Mike, This is not good news. Iwas in your shoes last year and just got my formula and thought the engine was good to go, but I was wrong. My wife was not to happy. But I still got my engine, just fix it and get back on the water. Better days are coming.


Best of luck, stay positive!

Mark

I just spent the day ripping up the lake with Traviss on "Problem Child" so I feel a little better than this morning. Thanks Traviss!!!

Last night I went out to test a prop on Lake Michigan. all was going well. Motor ran right up to WOT no problem (the prop was no faster than the one I currently run). Was running about 3700 rpm to see where cruising speed was with this prop. The motor suddenly seemed to be running on less than all 8 cylinders and just quit. No metal on metal noises, no bangs or knocks. Just quit. I'm now a mile from the Holland pier head. Got a guy to tow me to the ramp though (there is an embarrassing story to go along with the tow, but we won't go into that now). Motor will not start, but will turn over (or did till the batteries went pretty much dead). I am thinking ignition or something electrical because my voltage gauge never went above 12.5 volts the entire time I was out and I just put one BRAND NEW battery in the day before. All other gauges read normal. The 75 amp alternator was new this spring. I knew I had one bad battery but turns out I took out the wrong one. I may have cooked the alternator trying to charge that bad battery. When I put the hatch up the alternator was smoking hot (litteraly). Way too hot to touch. When I turned the key I only got 10.5 volts from the GOOD battery with the motor not running (remember, brand new battery). This seems wrong to me. Indicator light on the Crane box still turns on with the key on. Crane boxes will flash the light if they sense an issue. No blinking.

This morning, after Wette Vette woke me up at 7:15 (I was out till 1:00 that night, thanks a LOT Craig :drool: ) I took the bad battery out and put a meter on it. 8.5 volts. Definitely BAD. The good battery showed 12 volts. I put my other battery back in (it also showed 12 vlots after about 45 minutes on the charger). The motor turns right over and did start....but something is making a BAD noise. I'm hoping it's just the alternator bearings. Tomorrow I might (depends on whether I feel like messing with the POS) take the belt off and turn the motor over to see if the noise goes away. Spin the alternator by hand, and possibly take it to Autozone and have it tested.

Question: If an alternator simply fries and supplies NO juice to the motor, will the motor quit? Or will the motor run till it runs the batteries down?? As I understand it, Crane boxes will run down to 10.5 volts and then simply shut off. True??

Any other suggestions??

'Foul

The motor will run until the voltage drops to a point the spark won't jump the gap. I think most engines run on around 7 to 8 volts. They run like that because when turning the starter, the voltage will drop. A fully charged battery will run a long time with no electric accesories running. I'm not sure, but I think there is a way that the alt can actually discharge a battery.

cuda, the motor may run on that little voltage, but as I understand it, the Crane box won't, thus no spark.

sorry to hear that foul best of luck robbie

You are most likely correct. I don't know anything about those. I was thinking standard ignition. The Crane system must make some sort of adjustment for the starting voltage drop.

Foul take out the alternator and bring it back to the rebuilder WITH OUT A WORD of anything but that the thing just died. Tell him you have two BRAND NEW batteries in the boat and can he check it out. I can almost guarantee to you that your alternator went into high charge mode and fried itself. Then the voltage dropped down to low for you to run on. You will be ok. If you still are broke let me know I am sure I can find a alternator that works for you to use for the rest of the summer. Just make sure you have two new batteries or test the ones you have. Good luck bro.

Jon

get a new alternator. i had the same thing happen a couple years ago. swapped in a new altnerator and BINGO.

i have a 100 amp 1 wire i could send up to you. it not marine, but you'd find out if it's an alternator. let me know.

mike, the is best part is that this is one of the easiest/cheapest repairs in boatiing.