1981 won’t start

you should get a cheap meter and leave it in the boat in a baggie.

make a long negative lead and attach it to the negative post and leave it there.

the next time it dies, take the positive meter lead and start at the battery, solenoid, key, main plug at the motor (especially the main feed on this plug) ground at the motor and back to the battery. trace backwards to see where you are losing the voltage.

never assume new=good.

make sure the solenoid and it's mounting plate is well grounded or it will not engage.

It sure does sound like dirty battery terminals to me. I know that sounds trivial, but have you got really good clean battery terminals and cables? I've had those exact symptoms before on old Ford cars and it was always cured by cleaning the terminals. I use a good terminal brush and then coat them with grease to avoid oxidation.

I know you have heard it all before, but combustion engines only need basic things to work. Electricity, and the correct combination of fuel and air mixture. The fuel/air mixture is unimportant if the engine doesn't turn over and fire. When this occurs, check for power from the battery to the starter. (or anywhere in between)

Sounds like the power is not allowing the solenoid to connect/switch the battery directly to the starter. Most likely a wiring problem. You'll notice two small wires on the solenoid. Trace and clean them.

Check and clean the engine grounds.

If you can't find the wiring problem and she refuses to start...open her cover up...real wide so all the fumes are gone. Then jump the solenoid with a pair of jumper cables or a screwdriver. (some guy's can walk you through a troubleshooting routine rather than "jumping"...sorry, I'm not one of them and basically...if you have this problem...you may not be either...sorry) If it doesn't start your battery is dead or the solenoid is bad. Try going directly from the battery to the starter..if it cranks you've now found out it's the solenoid.

In my case, the solenoid was OK and it was a matter of tracing the wiring to and from and found a poor connection.

I've since "single" wired which removes the external voltage regulator and solenoid. Much simpler process...the reason I mention this is in case your paying to have all this wiring and alternators re-built etc...just ask the guy about single wiring and eliminate all the wiring that crawls all over these engines.

After you solve this problem, with the engine running at 1200 RPM, pull the (+) battery cable off and see if the engine dies...if so, your alternator is dead.

CroMagnon Electrician

When this sort of thing happens to people's toys they tend to get pretty upset. Well heres what I do. First put down those rusty needle nose pliers, that 1/2 inch bolt isn't going anywhere with those things. Second go get yourself another cold beverage out of the cooler believe me you deserve it. Third this one is the most overlooked piece of advice that has ever been created; are you holding your mouth right? Fourth under the tray of almost every tool box out there is the hammer, I know what you are thinking at this point just beat the crud out of it and it will work not so. By this time you have tried everything possible to get the thing running with no luck so you have some frustration built up inside of you towards this stubburn wreck. So when you swing the hammer your going to have emotion swinging with you, and that always helps. Just remember humor always makes a bad situation better, or it does'nt.

Just tore down and reinstalled the 351 Windsor in my 1981 Ski Nautique. This included all the electrical connections on the engine. The positive side of the battery runs to the solenoid and branches through a circuit breaker to the rest of the electrical system. The other large bolt side of the solenoid goes to the starter. There are two smaller connections on the solenoid but only one is used in my application. The positive comes from the ignition switch through the neutral switch on the transmission. The solenoid is grounded through its frame to the bell housing. The battery ground is attached to the engine near the lower front of the driver's side.

Attach a volt meter to your battery at the battery and turn the ignition switch to the start position. If the voltage at the battery drops below 10 or 11 volts, the battery needs charging or replacement. If your battery voltage stays close to its unloaded voltage, next check to be certain the circuit breaker has not tripped. If it has not, proceed to the following steps.

Add an 5 amp inline fuse to each of two 15' pieces of multistrand lamp cord wire terminated on both ends with alligator clips. Radio Shack has everything you need.

Disconnect the small wire coming from the transmission to the solenoid and tape its end so it doesn't accidentally ground. Route the wire you made from the battery hot away from soon to be moving belts and such to the area of the solenoid. Touch it to the small post of the solenoid where you removed the small wire from the transmission. If the solenoid now works, you have a problem in the hot side of the circuit. If it does not work, run the other wire from the battery ground to the solenoid base plate and try touching the small post with the hot wire again. If it works, there is a ground problem. At this point you do not know if hot side is good. Fix the ground side and retest the hot side as described above. If it doesn't work, confirm you are connecting to the correct small post. If you are, your solenoid is likely defective, new or not. You can test for resistance from the solenoid frame to the small post to determine if you have an open in the relay winding.

For a ground circuit problem, clean the battery posts and the battery wire connectors. Inspect the attachment of the connectors to the wire. Moisture can destroy the conductivity from the connector to the wire. Remove the bolt on the engine where the ground wire connects and wirebrush the casting, bolt, and connector. Inspect the connector to wire for corrosion or mechanical deterioration. Remove the electronics frame from the bell housing and wire brush the bell housing, bolts, and frame. Do the same for the solenoid. Retest as above.

Now for the key to difficult situations. The key is to measure voltage within a circuit. Avoid disconnecting circuit elements until you have found the problem or you will not learn where the problem was, even though your disassembly may fix it.

To explain the technique lets start with the circuit breaker. Turn on your navigation lights to activate current through the circuit breaker. Using a volt meter, measure the voltage between the two wires connected to the circuit breaker. You should expect it to be very close to zero. If you have nothing turned on, there is no electricity flowing through the circuit breaker even though it is hot and this test will be ineffective. If you get a voltage reading, the circuit breaker may be defective. A typical voltage value across an ignition switch would be no more than 1 volt when the switch is closed [activated]. Wire should read 0 volts and a clean connector will also read 0 volts. Remember the circuit under test must be active meaning not just hot and not just attached to ground. It must be attached to both through a device such as gauge, lights, solenoid, etc. Try to initially test at the wire at a connection rather than at the screw post of a connection. This will detect corrosion between the wire and the post whereas connecting to the two sides of a device itself such as an ignition switch will test the switch itself.

I would check the safety neutral switch on the trasmission and replace your ballast resistor. I had a very similar problem on my 80 Nautique replaced both and went to electronic ignition about 3 years ago and have had no problems since. Hope this will help.

               Nautiquesonly

Look for help regarding elecritical problem for 82 ski nautique. Boat will start fine, run great then when it is warm it will simply lose all power. NO lights, no horn, nothing, when you turn the key the gauges do not even perk up. If you let it sit for an hour or so it will all of the sudden work, but only for a short time. I recently replaced the battery, alt. , condeser, and points thinking these were the problems. I have check the battery conection, and also replaced the ignition switch, nice clean conections. My next idea is to replace the resistor or complete wiring harness.

Please advise.