Voltage Low - - HELP!

[MartinCaron]

Probably not...
If the problem still ocur with the head unit turned off, your probably looking for a short circuit

[philwsailz]

Is your battery dead?

[Lakeside09]

A new batter was supposed to have been installed at the beginning of this summer... can it still run good thru middle and top end with a dead battery?!?!?

[MartinCaron]

A new batter was supposed to have been installed at the beginning of this summer... can it still run good thru middle and top end with a dead battery?!?!?

yes. When the engine turn, the alternator produce all the current the boat demand (motor + accessories + recharge for the battery).

[Lakeside09]

So if the battery is bad... then when I start to idle down it will lose voltage and die... but crank and start again fine... try to give it some gas to take off it will try to sputter out... but if I give it hard throttle... it will run perfectly fine... until I start to idle down again... then it will die.

So it may be the battery?

[MartinCaron]

Im pretty sure its not the battery because you had enough power to crank again and again...

[philwsailz]

Do you know for sure this is electrical? Are you fue injected?

The symptoms you describe can also be attributed for a faulty Idle Air Control

[Sharpie647]

first i would put a voltmeter on the battery while at idle to see actually voltage because mayber your voltmeter in dash is a little off and you really do have a engine problem.

if voltage is 13.5 or more i'd say its not a charging problem.

if its really only 12 or so then you would then check voltage starting at the battery back towards the alternater and might find a bad connection or wire.

I had a bad charging wire in the wire harness on a previous boat i needed to replace

just my 2 cents

[Lakeside09]

Yes it is Fuel Injected... Where would I look to check to see if it is the air idle control? Is this expensive to fix... If that is the problem?

[philwsailz]

Yes it is Fuel Injected... Where would I look to check to see if it is the air idle control? Is this expensive to fix... If that is the problem?

The Idle Air Control is usually right at the intake plenum. it is basically a solenoid valve that opens and closes to allow a small amount of air past the butterfly to keep the motor running. It will be a small device with a wire, (maybe two) that is bolted right to the side of the intake, under the spark arrester.

The redneck/shade-tree way to check it is to tap on it with the handle of a screwdriver, not too soft as to do no good, but not so firm as to break it. If the IAC is acting up, many times banging on it will loosen it up enough to get it to jump to a smooth idle. It will then probably rtun fine until the next time you shut off the boat and let all systems go cold, then the motor will run rough at idle.