271 Won't Start
 

Hey everyone,

I'm pretty new to the forum and boating in general. I'm really enjoying both so far. I have a 2003 271 FasTech with the 496 Mag H.O. with about 200 hours on it. I had the boat out all day Saturday and Sunday, when we went and parked in a cove Sunday afternoon it would'nt restart. I jiggled the shifter, checked the kill switch, and all the breakers including the one on the top of the engine. When I turn the key on the gauges won't even move. A good samaritan came by to help me, he had a generator which I plugged my battery charger into thinking they could be dead. I let them charge for a while but still nothing. Before I take it to the mechanic, I was wondering if there could be something easy I am missing? I'd hate to get it to the mechanic and have him call half an hour later with something I missed because I am new. Thanks in advance for any help you can give me!!

After doing some looking, we've found a 90 amp fuse (according to mercruiserparts.com) that is melted. Hopefully this is will solve the problem. Now I'm wondering what caused it to fail? It is located right behind the starter and appears to have wires going into the alternator. The boat has four batteries, and I wonder if maybe when they get low the wire to the alternator gets overheated from trying to charge all four? Our plan is to run heavier wire from the alternator to the fuse. Any thoughts on this?

Probably a loose connection a the fuse causing high resistance=heat.

Changing to a heavier wire won't matter. It was sized according to the Alt output. and wire lenght. If you don't change either of those, no gain will be had. Pus you still have the same 90A fuse in the circut.

Install a new fuse and make sure the connections are clean and tight.

Ditto that...and cary a couple of spares with you.