Engine stalled and now nothing.
 

I have a 5.7 mercruiser that when I went to idle speed it sputtered. I gave it a touch of gas and it went for another 5-10 seconds then stalled. Now it doesnt respond at all. No click from starter or anything. Where should I start my troubleshooting? Is there a reset button or anything on this engine? It ran fine up to this point with no noises or anything unusual. Thanks for any help!

Re: Engine stalled and now nothing.
 

Not that it couldn't happen, but it seems to me unlikely that your engine, or some component of it (e.g.: Carburetor, fuel pump, etc.) failed, and that your starter solenoid failed at the same time. So I have to go for "what's common?" What's common to both of them is they need electricity. The starter solenoid needs it to energize (and, as a result, supply power to the starter motor) and the engine, being a gasoline engine, needs it for spark. So: What's common? The battery.

My guess is your alternator died and your engine ran off the battery until the battery could no longer supply enough power to generate enough spark to fire the cylinders.

Easy to test. Check the battery voltage with a voltmeter. If it's near 12VDC (my guess is it'll be under), your battery is drained and you probably have your answer.

Assuming I'm correct: What to do? First get the battery charged up. (If it's still good. Take it to a battery place and have them check it out.) Put it back in the boat, hook it up, start the engine. Then measure across the battery while the engine's running. You should measure 13.5 to 14.5 VDC across the battery with the engine at idle. If you measure less than that, and it's the same or less with the engine running as when it's not: Your alternator is not working. (Or the regulator. But that may be integral with the alternator. Usually, these days, they are.)

If, as I surmise, your alternator is not working: Take it in to a qualified place to have it inspected and repaired or replaced.

DO NOT be tempted to replace the marine grade alternator on your boat with an off-the-shelf automotive alternator. Get a marinized replacement.. Explosions on a boat are Not Fun.

Jim

Re: Engine stalled and now nothing.
 

I will check that but the guage showed charging properly. All guages were good (oil,temp, etc.) I watch my guages like a hawk. Thanks for the help again.

Re: Engine stalled and now nothing.
 

Like I said: Could be coincidence. You'll know as soon as you put a voltmeter on the battery.

Jim

Re: Engine stalled and now nothing.
 

Checked the battery... Its good. Actually the battery is only a few weeks old. The buzzer sounds like normal when I turn the key but turning to start gets nothing. No turnover, no starter clunk or anything. The previous owner removed the safety lanyard cutoff switch so only the run/off switch on the throttle is there. I've switched it back and forth a few times but still nothing. Any ideas on where to go from here? Thanks again!

Re: Engine stalled and now nothing.
 

By "good" I assume you mean it had somewhere around 12.5VDC on it, or better?

That doesn't matter. It can still be depleted by running the boat w/o the alternator.

That buzzer takes almost nothing to run.

Grab a meter, the wiring diagram for your boat, and get to work, I guess. Something's opened somewhere, obviously.

On our boat there's a 35A common fuse right off the battery. I suspect, but do not know, that if that went out the engine would stop.

The PO was an id10t, IMHO.

Maybe somebody else here, that's worked on 'em more than I, can give you a good starting point. Me, I'd do as I suggest above and start trouble-shooting the electrical system.

Good luck,
Jim

Re: Engine stalled and now nothing.
 

Yes the battery read 12.49 on the meter. I also took a voltage test light and placed it on the starter solenoid and saw nothing with someone turning the key to the crank position. So with me being a total non mechanic... What is in line that would stall the engine and keep it from turning over? The gauges respond on the dash when they key is turned. There is a breaker on the panel under dash labeled IGN that I reset just to make sure. Any other fuses hidden anywhere? Certainly the ignition switch wouldnt kill the engine if it went bad would it? Sorry for the basic questions but I will have no luck getting it serviced before the 4th and would love to have my kids out for the weekend. Thanks again for any ideas!

Re: Engine stalled and now nothing.
 

Well, then, it isn't the main fuse (if, like our boat, yours has one), otherwise nothing would be working.

On our boat there is two rows of fuses up under the instrument panel. But none of them are ignition.

Sure it would--just like turning it off.

But you say your instruments come on. I would think the engine's ignition system would be powered off the same terminal on the ignition switch, so that seems unlikely.

Let's see... I'm thinking that switch has... um... four wires?

• Incoming 12VDC
• Accessories
• Run
• Start

Locate each of them and check them with a meter. Which should be one when should be self-explanatory ;).

I don't know what year or model boat you have, so I don't know how closely she'd likely mirror how our electrical system is set up. We have a '94 182 Barchetta with a 4.3L V6 MerCruiser.

Not a problem. We'll do what we can to see if we can't get you going again.

Maybe a connector just fell off or become corroded somewhere? Or maybe that ignition breaker went bad? I don't know what that ignition breaker does, exactly.

I think you really need to look at the boat's wiring diagram. You can download them from this site if you're a member. (Which reminds me: I need to renew!)

Jim

Re: Engine stalled and now nothing.
 

Hey Jim! Thanks again for your continued help. I assume you are mentioning the wiring diagram thats in the owners manual? I have not yet received a High Res version of this so I cant read any of the low res on my screen. If you have the link to the high res could you forward it to me? My boat is a 96 z212 shabah. It has to be something basic as it was running great when it stalled. No weird noises or anything. Thanks!
Todd

Re: Engine stalled and now nothing.
 

So upon more tinkering with no luck I figured I would arc the starter and atleast make sure it would turn over like that. Its very cramped and I hate sparks so I only made it clunk a couple of times without actually turning it over. Went back scratching my head and turned the ignition and it fired right up. Shut it down, turned it again and it fired up again. Im happy but nervous if that makes sense. What to do with it now?

Re: Engine stalled and now nothing.
 

Yeah, it does.

Okay, first off: It now looks like my initial impression, based on the fact that I tend not to believe in coincidences, might've been incorrect, and that the engine stalling, then not starting up, are apparently unrelated.

As to why the engine stalled: I've no idea. Insufficient information. As to what you're experiencing with the starter: You earlier wrote that you put a meter on it, turned the key, and no 12VDC showed up, right? So I'm guessing bad connection to the energizing terminal on the starter solenoid and your poking at it and/or the vibration from jumpering the thing "good" again. Note that I placed "good" in quotes. You need to check and fix that.

Looks like you know enough to be careful around that, as the thick cable goes directly to the battery, w/o passing "Go," and can supply enough current to weld things together, melt things, start fires... and never forget you're working around a gasoline-powered engine in an enclosed area. If ever you smell gasoline fumes stop what you're doing until you can establish their source and make the area safe again.

Jim

Re: Engine stalled and now nothing.
 

When was the last time that you replaced your fresh water pump impeller? I had my impeller break apart causing it to have trouble to turn over, worth a look at.

Re: Engine stalled and now nothing.
 

I have ran into the same problem with my boat where turning the key did nothing. turned out to be the neutral safety switch. Mine has 2 yellow and red stripped wires. I cut the wires and connected them together and the boat started. just a thought.

before you go cutting wires check your ignition switch with the key on to see if you have power. if there is no power then go to your neutral safety switch. if there is power there then go to your slave selinoid and make sure you have power there. I didn't have to go past that point so from there your own your own....

lol i guessed i should of looked at the date before posting....

Re: Engine stalled and now nothing.
 

Just my two cents now replace the starter the selenoid sticking its might be fine for awhile. But sooner or later this will happen again and the little shorting manuever may free it again and may not and depending on the lake and the amount of boats you could be rowing for awhile.