96 Speedster - slightly unique electrical problem

[jclack]

Hey, Folks,

Noob on this board and w/ SeaDoo, although I've been boating for decades. I've acquired a 1996 Speedster with a few electrical "issues." I was able to figure out a few of them by lurking here (thanks!), but a few are still eluding me. I've searched this board quite a bit and I can't find anything that is similar.

Basically, the blower has no power and the bilge pump doesn't operate automatically. Everything else works, including the direct switch for the bilge pump. I've been busy w/ my multimeter/outside battery and this is what I know:

1. The bilge pump and blower are functional. The bilge works w/ the switch and the blower works off of an external battery.
2. ALL fuses (both in fore compartment and in the electrical box) and switches are okay (confirmed w/ multimeter).
3. Nav lights work fine.
4. System charges fine.
5. No 12V that I can see gets to the blower switch or to the water sensor.

Now, many have talked about a separate wire that goes to the battery which might power these. There is no evidence of one in my 96, and it appears that the power comes from wires embedded in the MPEM (gulp). The wiring diagram is not clear, but it does seem that power goes into the fore fuse block and is distributed to the various devices, some of which work and some of which do not.

I'm starting to wonder it I have a bad fuse block. Any other possibilities that you can think of?

TIA,
Jim

 

[howie099]

Does yours have a water switch next to the bilge pump? If you do that could be bad since that it what turns on the pump automaticly. you get cen newer models now that you don't need that switch. The blower just works of the toggle switch that should run the to the fuese through the MPEM.

My 98 does have 3 smaller red wires that power the MPEM and accessories.

 

[jclack]

Yeah, it has a water sensor. I suspect it's okay, but it's not getting any juice.

As far as the power wires, there are a couple coming off the solenoids, but I can't rightly remember if they're on the battery or starter side. My boat has the two batteries hooked up in parallel.

Jim

 

[howie099]

Mine has 3 power wires coming from the battery that have fuses in them. 1 powers the MPEM the other 2 power the accessories. Your wiring diagram does show 1 power wire with a 20 amp fuse coming off the port battery the powers the fuse block. I'm sure it doesn't matter which batter if comes off of.

 

[jclack]

Yeah, but there's a 20A fuse in front of the MPEM that (I believe) powers the auxiliaries. It comes out of the MPEM and I'm pretty sure the source wires to blower and bilge water sensor come out of the big harness connected to the MPEM.

J

 

[jclack]

Okay - more standing on my head reveals that there IS power going to the fuse block, fuses are good and 12V on both sides of each 3A & 7.5A fuses. However, no voltage on the yellow/orange lined wire that feeds the blower switch nor the pin in the connex for the fuse block that the wire plugs into. I'm 90% sure that there's a problem w/ the fuse block.

Are they available or do I do an intrepid splice/fuse job??

Jim

 

[jclack]

Post mortem: I simply worked around the fuse block and plugged a wire w/ inline fuse into the input side that supplied the blower, then to the switch. Easy as pie. I also determined that the relay that controlled the bilge pump was faulty, so I simply put a new float switch in and wired it in parallel w/ the switch (so the pump would come on automatically when the water level came up).

Works fine now (except for the stupid scupper valve and some of the gauges).

 

[Nittany Lion]

I know for 100% fact that you melted your fuse block (located under steering hood). I had this exact diagnosis last summer. Only repairable by someone who knows exactly which circuit melted! If you look at the fuse block, it may have a hairline crack along the edge where plastic meets the silicone mold.... water got in there and created an arc. Causing a melt down. You are F'd until you either A) find an electrical engineer good enough to fix the fuse block, B) Trace your harness and locate the brown & brown/white wires for a bilge bypass with inline fuse, C) Manage to track down a parted out boat that still has a good fuse block! At first i bypassed, but wanted my boat 100% operational so i searched for fuse block....good luck, took me 3 months to find a parted out boat!!!!

 

[DriveFast]

My automatic bilge works sometimes. I thought I had it fixed by thoroughly washing out the engine compartment. It worked in the yard and on one subsequent weekend. But apparently the black oil slicks coated it up again, and I wound up flooded. Even your new automatic pump is suceptible to the unavoidable 2-cycle oil issues. Be careful and keep an eye on it!

 

[Nittany Lion]

Haha, did you have a worn out grommet on the bottom of your oil reservoir too! That was a great experience to have with a full reservoir of oil that dripped out in storage between weekend rides! Looked like BP Gulf in my bilge!

 

[DriveFast]

Well that's a good question. I have not seen any puddles, but I do wonder where the oil clumps keep coming from. It's been sitting for a month now, so I'll go look for a puddle. And, I'll keep an eye on that. Thanks!