2009 Speedster 200 - Engine Turns Over but No Electrical Accessories Work????? PLEASE HELP!

[RahulK101]

Hello,

Boat is a 2009 Seadoo Speedster 200 with the twin 4TEC supercharged engines. Has 190 hours on it. We had it on the water the other day and the RPMs were very high (around 8000) while the boat was doing between 10-15 km/h. I checked the engine bay and noticed lots of water as the automatic bilge pump decided to take the day off... I figure this is the issue and take the boat back to the dock and shut it off. I turn on the manual bilge pump switch and slowly all the water is removed from the engine bay.

All of a sudden, there is no more radio, deck lights, nav lights, gauges, fuel gauge. Nothing works! Both engines start up but none of the electrical stuff works. I put the key in and get the normal beeps.

So I go ahead and get a new battery installed and nothing is working. Both engines crank over and I checked all of the fuses with a test light and multimeter and they are perfectly fine (at the battery cutoff switch, behind the steering wheel/under windshield cooler, and even under the seats at both fuse boxes as well as the inline fuses with the caps on them). Battery has 2 thick ground cables connected to negative terminal and 1 thick red cable connected to the positive terminal. Everything is grounded to the engine fine...

What could be causing this issue? Any help is appreciated - I have been ripping my hair out since last weekend!

 

[RahulK101]

Anybody? I am at a loss and the nearest boat mechanics are swamped and don't have time to look at it until September!

 

[Joe Starbuck]

Water in the engine bay is not the root of the problem, it is just a symptom.
You say you cleared the bilge using the bilge pump, on manual. If that is the case, then at least one thing electrical works. You also report that you were cavitating (8000 rpm, 10 mph). Have you found the source of that? Have you found the source of all that leakage? If you want one thang that causes cavitation and leakage, it is the carbon shaft seal. However, foreign objects in the pump are far more common that seal failures. And leakage, that could be from any one of about 6 hoses leaking. You have a muti-meter, so start at the battery + and work your way to something easy like the nav lights (Batt+, Batt switch, Breaker in the console, switch on the console, nav. light fixture). At some point you will loose your 12V, and that will tell you what the electrical problem is.

 

[RahulK101]

Water in the engine bay is not the root of the problem, it is just a symptom.
You say you cleared the bilge using the bilge pump, on manual. If that is the case, then at least one thing electrical works. You also report that you were cavitating (8000 rpm, 10 mph). Have you found the source of that? Have you found the source of all that leakage? If you want one thang that causes cavitation and leakage, it is the carbon shaft seal. However, foreign objects in the pump are far more common that seal failures. And leakage, that could be from any one of about 6 hoses leaking. You have a muti-meter, so start at the battery + and work your way to something easy like the nav lights (Batt+, Batt switch, Breaker in the console, switch on the console, nav. light fixture). At some point you will loose your 12V, and that will tell you what the electrical problem is.

None of the electrical works anymore. The manual bilge pump switch was the last thing to work before everything died. There was lots of water in the bilge area so that must be why the engine was behaving weird.

Only the engines crank, apart from that everything is dead. When the key is inserted, it beeps like normal and the only thing that lights up is both of the engine light gauges for a quick second and then go off.

Where is the breaker in this thing? I can't find any info on this boat, even a wiring diagram feels like digging for a needle in a haystack.

In the driver console, there are a bunch of black wires (are these grounds??). Can you elaborate on how I could test these items with the multimeter? I am not the best with electrical...

 

[RahulK101]

I just realized the bar with black wires running to it under the driver console is the Bus Bar. What is it's purpose in all of this? I have no power to bilge, deck lights, nav lights, blower, gauges, radio, 12 volt socket. Basically the whole dash is dead.

Any detailed troubleshooting of what I need to do in order to rectify this?

 

[POPPS]

i believe that bus bar is a multi wire ground,,,for simplicity,,,hhmm,,,i am no electrical genius unfortunately,,,Go through your connections,,,pull them apart,,,almost sounds like they have no ground,,since all your fuses are good,,,no shorts,

 

[Joe Starbuck]

I just realized the bar with black wires running to it under the driver console is the Bus Bar. What is it's purpose in all of this? I have no power to bilge, deck lights, nav lights, blower, gauges, radio, 12 volt socket. Basically the whole dash is dead.

Any detailed troubleshooting of what I need to do in order to rectify this?

It may difficult for you if your electrical background is very limited. If nothing up front is working, than the ground (Battery -) running up front may have a bad connection, or the hot wire (Battery +) has a bad connection. If it were me (above average electrical background) I would run a length of wire right to the Batt + and put a voltmeter between the long wire and the black ground buss. You should get 12 or 13 VDC. If that is OK, change the long wire to Battery - and check the voltage to the red wires supplying the electrical accessories. You should get 12 or 13 volts. If you don't get the first one, start tracing your red wires from the battery. If you don't get the second reading, start tracing your black wires from the battery.

Best place for a wiring diagram is to search on eBay. Seadoo typically publishes the wiring diagram separate from the Shop Manual.

 

[Crocket]

My utopia did the same thing last summer, there was a main fuse for the house load (lights/radio) behind the battery switch that was blown

 

[pug pug]

YOUR BREAKER BARR HAS SWITCHED OFF.ITS JUST AT THE BACK THE MAIN SWITCH YOU HAVE TO TURN ON TO START ENGINES.FLICK THE BARR BACK AND ALL WILL BE FINE

 

[RahulK101]

YOUR BREAKER BARR HAS SWITCHED OFF.ITS JUST AT THE BACK THE MAIN SWITCH YOU HAVE TO TURN ON TO START ENGINES.FLICK THE BARR BACK AND ALL WILL BE FINE

Do you have a picture of this? I can't seem to find any breaker bar. Are you sure my boat has this?

The engines start but all electrical switches on board are not working (bilge, blower, deck lights, nav light, stern light, radio, speakers).

 

[RahulK101]

It may difficult for you if your electrical background is very limited. If nothing up front is working, than the ground (Battery -) running up front may have a bad connection, or the hot wire (Battery +) has a bad connection. If it were me (above average electrical background) I would run a length of wire right to the Batt + and put a voltmeter between the long wire and the black ground buss. You should get 12 or 13 VDC. If that is OK, change the long wire to Battery - and check the voltage to the red wires supplying the electrical accessories. You should get 12 or 13 volts. If you don't get the first one, start tracing your red wires from the battery. If you don't get the second reading, start tracing your black wires from the battery.

Best place for a wiring diagram is to search on eBay. Seadoo typically publishes the wiring diagram separate from the Shop Manual.

Hi Joe,

I will try doing this today. Where on the bus bar do I have to measure the voltage? I tried to use a test light a few days ago connected to Battery + and touched the bus bar connections and got nothing. I used the same test light to test the ground connections on the engine and it lit up just fine.

 

[RahulK101]

I FIXED IT! There was a wire dangling behind the battery switch that was supposed to connect to the negative battery terminal. All together there are 3 wires that connect to the negative terminal (2 thick ones grounded to the engine and the thin one running behind the battery switch.

 

[pug pug]

Well done. Hip hip horray you can enjoy your boat now. Happy days?.

 

[RahulK101]

Well done. Hip hip horray you can enjoy your boat now. Happy days?.

I took it on the water yesterday and the only issue I had was a minor cavitation issue. Might have to open the impellers and see what's going on. Happier days regardless!! Thanks!

 

[pug pug]

That will be your ware ring or rings. I took out the rubbish plastic ware rings and put stainless in also put 2 new impeller. It goes like a rocket.

 

[turbosl2]

Water in the engine bay is not the root of the problem, it is just a symptom.
You say you cleared the bilge using the bilge pump, on manual. If that is the case, then at least one thing electrical works. You also report that you were cavitating (8000 rpm, 10 mph). Have you found the source of that? Have you found the source of all that leakage? If you want one thang that causes cavitation and leakage, it is the carbon shaft seal. However, foreign objects in the pump are far more common that seal failures. And leakage, that could be from any one of about 6 hoses leaking. You have a muti-meter, so start at the battery + and work your way to something easy like the nav lights (Batt+, Batt switch, Breaker in the console, switch on the console, nav. light fixture). At some point you will loose your 12V, and that will tell you what the electrical problem is.

Bilge pump is wired directly to the batter. One side is automatic the other hot wire does go to the helm. Since you said you manually pumped the water out you must have some power at the helm. I agree check the helm fuses and or the ground bus bar at the helm. For what it’s worth I had the same symptoms on my boat and it was because the ground bus was all black and tarnished. Pulled it out amd hit it with a wire wheel and everything came alive in the helm. This fits the symptoms on why the bilge went on since it just needs a hot to trigger the pump since it’s wired into battery switch and a diff ground location. However, this doesn’t fit the symptoms of the engine compartment got water in it now nothing in the helm works.

 

[turbosl2]

I took it on the water yesterday and the only issue I had was a minor cavitation issue. Might have to open the impellers and see what's going on. Happier days regardless!! Thanks!

Sorry saw you fixed it. Yes change your wear ring. Might be worth checking your carbon seal and if that’s a reason for cavitation and water coming into the bidlge. Run the boat in the water with the hatch up and give it some power. See if any water is spraying in around the shaft.