Won't Start! What to do next?

My 1985 Ski Nautique 2001 won't start.

First, I thought the battery was bad (it was), because it was past its life expectancy, and when you turned the key, you'd hear the clicking sound. I got a new one.

Still wouldn't start. Just clicking when you turn the switch.

A buddy of mine noted that half the switches/ dash toggles didn't work, and thought this might be the problem. The repair was inexpensive to do ourselves, so we rewired the junction box). All the switches work now.

Still wouldn't turn over. More clicking when you turn the switch. One time we had hooked up to another battery (as we thought maybe the new battery was weak), and it did briefly turn over.... (maybe a second of rotation ~ then nothing).

After prowling around here for a awhile, I decided to clean all the connections. In the process, I noted that the negative ground wire wasn't making good contact with the engine block (wow!). Anyway, addressed that issue. After all that was done, I figured it would surly start.

But it won't. And now I it doesn't even click. BTW, the clicking sound came from a brown circular cap next to the reset button. The positive lead connects there. I've got no idea what it is exactly.

If you haven't figured it out already, I should tell you in advance that I'm not much of a mechanic. I can tighten a bolt you might point to, and can identify most of the engine parts, and provide an elementary explanation of what they do, but that's about it. My buddy is much better, but I feel bad asking him for help all the time....


Suggestions on what to do next?

I would also double check the ground connection, sounds like something's a miss there since before you cleaned them you where getting better current flow, aka clicking at the starter relay and now you have nothing, so that tells me the grounds isn't as good as it was or you have drained the battery trying to get it started. Get the voltmeter out and verify voltage at the battery posts.

I'm towing boat to Autozone to have them test battery, and provide a hand w/ my volt meter tests.....

Hopefully I'll find a sympathizer up there willing to help troubleshoot.

The Negative battery cable is new last year (replaced by previous owner). I worked on the exposed copper of the postive cable a good bit, and it's shiny.....

I'll post my results later today.

VICTORY AT SEA!

Went to AZ. Found a guy that was intrigued by the SN setup (w/ the Ford 351, etc.). We checked a few things, then he suggested "retracing my steps while he went to the bathroom" (I kid you not ~ that was an exact quote).

Anyway, while he was "reading" I got to thinking about the wiring harness I'd rebuilt with my friend this time last week, and decided to take a quick look at it. Once I got down there, the problem was completely obvious, and I'm terribly embarrased that it took 3 or 4 hours to find.

Simply put the fuse that went to the ignition was not in the slot. My buddy was supplying the fuses, and he was running short ~ only had 4. He wanted to make sure everything else worked in the harness, so he took the fuse out of the ignition, and put it in the open slots to make sure bilge, auto bildge, anchor lights, etc. were working. After checking them out, he simply forgot to put the fuse back into the ignition slot.

While I did chase my tail a bit trying to find it, I feel more confident about the workings of the boat. Figuring out whats was wrong by myself, and finding the loose ground wire earlier was two very positive experiences.

It was a good day. I loaded up the kids, and took them for an hour ride.

Do you guys change your sparkplugs every season? I didn't change them at the end of last year.... Not sure what size I need....

Jonathan, Just read this. Glad you got it running. Should you run into any more issues, give me a call. I'm not a mechanic either, but sometimes can help. If you get bigger mechanical problems, I can hook you up with guy who can fix anything on your boat and do it reasonably.
Steve

I usually change my plugs every other year.