ignition fuse/breaker pops after ~45 seconds

[rc5695]

When I get the boat on the water and first start it up, it runs fine and just dies after about 45 seconds to a minute. Wait a few seconds, reset the breaker/fuse above the key, and it fires back up and runs great for another minute or so before dying again...

It did this at lake sinclair in GA 2 or 3 times and then ran fine for hte next 2 days. It has sat since then, about a month, until we got it out last weekend. It did it about 10 times, and I was jiggling wires everywhere. last one I disconnected and reconnected before running fine the rest of the day was the wires coming out of the distributor cap. Any thoughts on this weird electrical issue???

[mmandley]

Cuircut breakers and fuses pop due to Over demand of power or short. Same thing really lol.

If you last had the problem with the Wires at the distro cap then id suspect you have the same issue my 91 Z28 had. It ran great when it was hot out, then crank no start when it was raining or cold out. Turned out to be corroded connections at the distro cap. They were causing the voltage required to fire the spark to be way over normal and wouldnt allow the car to start.

Id suspect your connection was, is, lose or you are getting come condensation in there.

Check the inside of the plug make sure its dry, the seal is soft and if needed get a little electrical dielectric to add to the plug.

[rc5695]

Thanks for the quick reply.

My problem is the opposite if your Z28, as it runs fine hot, and seems to have this issue cold. I'm thinking the same thing on short, but am hoping to find some direction on if somebody else has had the same problem and a location to find the short. The connection I pulled on the distributor was perfectly clean and well sealed. I'm not fully convinced that unplugging & replugging that connector is what did it; it may have been co-incidence. Like I said, last time, about a month ago, it did it a couple of times and quit doing it as soon as I started running the boat.

Thanks for the tips. I'm surely going to take the advice of adding a little dilectric grease. I apologize, as I've not had the time to pull the cap off and look inside yet, and it has been like 100 degrees out in the sun when I get home from work still...Not fun... I'm going out to town this weekend, so hopefully I'll get at it next weekend.

My other thought is possibly replacing the coil. The center part of the coil is loose inside the sandwiched plates that form a square around it. Not 100% sure, but I think it shouldn't move around. That said, the boat ran fine the rest of the day, even when I jiggled it around.

[rc5695]

well, this weekend I finally had time to mess with it. I removed the dist. cap and cleaned some white corrosion off the inside terminals the rotor jumps the spark to. I also removed the black electrical piece that sits between the cap and mounting plate and cleaned/lubed all terminals. Everything looked good though...

The coil was loose inside the mounting plates that form a kind of box around it. Not sure if that's a problem or not? It is an Accel coil with a "2009" stamped on the side of it, so the previous owner must've replaced it. I don't like Accel anyways, so I went to O'Reilly's and replaced it with an MSD (StreetFire, I think). Started it up before and after replacing the coil and it ran fine (in the driveway) both times for quite a while, so hopefully it'll run fine the next time we get to the lake too :)

[bkb0839]

I am having this exact same problem and not sure what to do. I changed out the fuse/breaker and still no luck. Any suggestions?

[rc5695]

I am having this exact same problem and not sure what to do. I changed out the fuse/breaker and still no luck. Any suggestions?
Sending you a PM w/ my phone number. Let's compare notes!

[rc5695]

any updates bkb0839?

[rc5695]

Update:

Traced problem to the oil pressure, maybe the sending unit. When it ran for a minute today, I saw that the oil pressure gage was reading 0, and then it quit. Unplugged the red wire from the sending unit, and it stayed running. Going to try replacing the sending unit again (replaced it last fall) and buy a mechanical gage to check the pressure. Check back for an update Monday night.

Last year after chaning the oil it wouldn't even start, replaced the sending unit and it ran fine until now. Let's hope it isn't the pump, or we're done for the year :(

[moombadaze]

hopeing its not the pump Ryan

[rc5695]

pumped up a mechanical gauge yesterday and picking up the oil pressure switch today. Can you believe none of the big 3 (AutoZone, O'reilley's, and Advance Auto) in the Greenville county area has one in stock??? Same thing I ran into last year when I replaced it.

Anyways, tonight i'm installing a T-fitting, the new switch, and the mechanical valve. I'm thinking since this is the 2nd time I'm having this problem, I'm going to make a bracket and leave the mechanical valve hooked up back in the eng. compartment somewhere inconspicuous...

[rc5695]

Update:
Mechanical gauge and new Oil Pressure Switch installed. LOTS of oil pressure (mech reads 50 PSI at idle, dash reads 45 psi). Happy with that. Unfortunately boat was still cutting off :(

So, time to undo wiring harness and start tracing wires... Turns out the oil pressure switch has 3 wires that go a follows: purple is 12+, orange goes to starter relay ?, and red (that I was disconnecting) goes to the fuel pump! DOH!!! Turns out it was running fine w/o it hooked up because it was runnign on the gas that was left in the carb bowls... I left it run longer tonight and it died. Amazing how long it will run w/o the pump hooked up! Anyways, after running it for a few times w/ the pump hooked up, it was SUPER hot!

New fuel pump is on the way. It must be overheating and shorting out the red wire, which would feed back to the purple wire, shorting it out and it must be blowing that main breaker. Well, we'll find out Thursday when it gets here. Summit was $125 shipped, cheapest price around! Ouch...

i hope this works...I actually have the kids convinced to just take the tube and surfboard Monday ;)

[rc5695]

Fuel pump fixed it. Idled in the driveway for ~20 minutes last night. WooHoo!

Gotta love Summit, ordered it late Tuesday night and it was on my doorstep before I got home from work Wed., for $12 handling and free shipping!