www.iFourWinns.com

I went out to the boat last week and it appeared the battery was dead, even though it is fairly new, but I figured the radio was left on and it had been several weeks since we used the boat. I charged the battery for a few hours and it started right up and we went for a cruise. When we came back I shut it off and a little while later I went to restart it and there was nothing. Nothing on the boat worked except for the pump to raise the outdrive. No lights, no bilge pump, no blower, nothing, except I can raise and lower the outdrive and it sounds like the battery has a full charge. The starter doesn't even tick, and the fuel pumps are silent. I hook the charger to the battery and even with it hooked up the situation is exactly the same, nothing but the outdrive pump. Any suggestions? I am stumped.

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Steve K
1993 Four Winns 210 Horizon
5.8L EFI OMC

My money is on a corroded or bad ground wire.

You don't mention what boat you have. I would assume you don't have an onboard charger as you state you manually put one one.

You do have battery or at least enough to run most of the items you list if your able to move the outdrive trim.

Check your ground terminations on the battery, engine and at the ground bar in your fuse box. Disconnect, clean, reconnect and report back.

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Walter

2003 248 Vista - VP 5.0 GXi
2009 Toyota Tundra SR5 5.7L 4x4

Thanks,Walt. Your idea about the ground makes sense, and I am surprised I didn't think of it. I was thinking more of a relay or someting.I will check it this week and let you know.

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Steve K
1993 Four Winns 210 Horizon
5.8L EFI OMC

I would agree with your connections. I've had a ring terminal for my radio's constant power corrode a little and completely disrupt the ability to use the battery for anything. It was very confusing just going by what worked/didn't work. Somewhere you've got a bad connection though. If you had a battery problem you wouldn't be able to easily raise the outdrive or you'd be able to tell by the sound that it was struggling.

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Paul
2007 Four Winns Horizon 220
Mercruiser 350 Mag MPI w/ Bravo III Drive
2004 Ford Explorer Limited (V8-AWD)
Pomme de Terre Lake (Southwest Missouri)

Sounds like the 50 amp fuse that feeds the engine blew, your trim pump is on it's own fuse. There should be two black tubular fuse holders on the back of the engine, pull them apart to check the fuses. If it is the fuse, you need to find out why it blew and that could take a while. Do a search on "main circuit fuse" to get an idea as to how to chase the problem.

Good luck and let us know what you find.

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Chris Turner
1988 215 Sundowner
5.7 Cobra
2001 Tandem Trail-Rite Bunk Trailer

1985 Bayliner Trophy 2160 Hardtop
Volvo AQ 125b/275
1985 Tandem EZ Loader Roller Trailer

Good info to know the trim is on its own circuit, this would partially explain why that works.

I doubt it is a blown fuse as he had the issue before and resolved it by hooking up his charger to the battery which I believe temporarily solved his circuit issue.

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Walter

2003 248 Vista - VP 5.0 GXi
2009 Toyota Tundra SR5 5.7L 4x4

Four Winns like to use non-tinned wire. Why I don't know! Tinned wire is more money but in the long run it worth it. Every few weeks I would have a problem due to a wire corroding.

Yes, they do. They save very little money by not using it. They use it against all commonly held opinions re best practices for marine wiring They also use automotive fuses rather than breakers and put the fuse boards in odd places, with all the wiring hanging from it so connections can just fall off due to the weight of the wiring harness. Yet, they use some nice quality waterproof connector blocks.

Basically clueless design of the engineering, nothing to do with the people assembling the boats , it's like 2 people designed the harness, what we want and what we'll do, and never talked to each other. I'd regard it as an amateur job if I found it on a car.

Unfortunately Volvo Penta are the same; they may use tinned wire in some places, but not others. The ACP system uses untinned wire, any break in the potting of the electrodes leads to massive corrosion. Likewise for the trim sensor wiring on the SX/ DPS.

Any update Steve?

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Walter

2003 248 Vista - VP 5.0 GXi
2009 Toyota Tundra SR5 5.7L 4x4

I was wondering the same thing, if there were any updates. I am going to be tracking mine down this weekend with the same issue. Not to hijack your thread but mine goes about a week before it goes dead.

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1990 Four Winns Horizon 200
2005 GMC Sierra

I have been tied up with a few other things and finally got the boat back on the priority list. I got on it today and was wishing the problem went away and I could at least winterize it and worry about it in the spring, but no such luck.

I checked the ground from battery to the engine block and it is good. I checked all the terminals and the grounds on the fuse panel-all good. What I am trying to find out is where the wire for the grounds on the fuse block goes to. I cannot track that down and suspect that may be where the issue is. Anyone have any ideas where I can find it?

Thanks for all your input.

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Steve K
1993 Four Winns 210 Horizon
5.8L EFI OMC

I finally got to the boat for the first time this year last weekend. My son got married a couple of weeks ago and there has been too many things on my list to even think of the boat.

Believe it or not, the fix was amazingly simple. After checking all connections, fuses, etc., I went over the whole engine compartment again looking for loose or corroded connections or grounds. I found nothing. But while search I found a third circuit breaker that I never saw before. I pressed the reset and everything came to life. I have been sweating this issue since the fall and I basically had it resolved in about 30 minutes. What a relief!

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Steve K
1993 Four Winns 210 Horizon
5.8L EFI OMC

Out of interest, where was the mystery circuit breaker?

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2002 Funship 214
VP 5.7 GX Si
2003 Tahoe

Hello everyone. I have the same issue this weekend except I kept on resetting the 50 amp fuse and it keeps on tripping. I haven't gone through any of the wires yet but I am wondering if this would have anything to do with a bad or failing alternator? I haven't checked the alternator yet. Again I haven't had the time to trouble shoot the entire electrical system. All I know is that when I reset the 50 amp breaker it will run fine for a while then when I turn off the engine nothing works except the radio and trim pump.
Any suggestions where I might start first? Should I just go to the breaker and clean the connections there or go to the batteries first and clean them.
Any suggestion would be excellent. Thank you

Again I have a Vista 238 Volvo SX drive with 5.0L

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1995 Vista 238 Fuel injected 5.0L OMC/Coba/sx
SOLD 1990 Maxum 1800 bowrider.

when I first bought my 238 I had a lot of trouble with the circuit breaker tripping. I cleaned the terminals of all three batteries, and put the cable on tight. Haven't had it happen but once or twice since.

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Chris and Alicia
Las Vegas, NV
ALTIVA
1996 Four Winns 238 Vista Dlx 5.8Fi