Engine just "cut out"? IDEAS??
 

took the boat out on saturday and it ran like a greased top all day long. after about a total of 5 hours of running it for the day and on the way back to the landing, the damn thing just "cut out". imagine driving in your car and you turn the key off. thats what the boat did. lift the hatch thinking the fuel pump went out and its working fine. turn it over and it cranks right up. hmm..... so we go about another mile and it does it again. cycle the key off then on, and it cranks up again. putting it on the trailer, it does it once more. no alarms, no fuses blown, nothing out of the ordinary from what i can see. the boat is a 98 24ft baja with a 525sc with only about 30 hours on it at this point. a good starting point from my opinion would be the ignition, but any input on this would be appreciated!!:readinghelp:

Mine did the the same thing when I had an ignition module go bad.

By pass the kill switch lanyard, might be that. Sounds like ignition for sure, all you can do is start troubleshooting.

I had module go bad a while ago and would just shut off, would restart when cool, not right away. (not saying cant be that, just saying)

When our sea ray was new there was an exposed wire running to the fuel pump that would foul out on a piece of metal. Boat would shut down at cruising and kept blowing fuses to the electrical fuel pump. Couldn't find the short until the wire stayed stuck on the metal it kept shorting out on.

ive done engine work for years, and it really sounds like and felt like and ignition issue. im going to look at the module to start and go from there. thanks for the quick replys! if anyone one else can think of something that could be it, please post it.

check the wires from the coil to the module. Fought my old fountain for a long time till i found a sliced wire that would ground it out and shut it off. Best of luck

Start the engine and go over the engine giggling the ignition wires. Either one is shorting to ground or a ground is loose an going open. I have had both the 12v+ wire ground out and cause your issue and on a seperate occasion the ground wire that goes into the module plug was broken. Both were found with the wiggle test. Don't forget to wiggle the large cannon plug as well.

thanks blue! i will be trying that tonight. got to get it straight by saturday!!

Same problem was recently happening to me. Turned out to be the safety lanyard switch as stated above. The switch corroded on the inside. This is very easy to detect and fix if it turns out to be the problem. good luck.

Wiggle the kill switch while it is running too. They are in fact adjustable and if it came loose could do this too. As well as a failed internal circuit as slysnakeman points out. Wiggling should tell you if it is working properly.

i had a buddy come over last night, and he has a friend with a few extra thunderbolt ignition modules. we are going to try swapping them out, but the problem will still be trial and error. i also looked at the kill switch and it "seems" to be working correctly. i am nervous as hell to get out on the water and it dies and decides not to start back up this time.....:eek:

I would by-pass the kill switch and run a test light off the +12 side of the coil and leave it attached in engine compartment so you can easily tell if it is losing power when(if) it shuts off. Eventually it will not start so go with another boat or make sure your towing coverage is paid up. Good news is then it is easier to find the problem. :-)

that is a good idea! im gonna try that on saturday. thanks happy! already made plans to meet up with a friend this weekend just in case, so if it does it again, ill have a tow....:drink:

good luck
 

pull the ignition switch out of the dash the hot wire could be loose that is what happend to mine it would just shut off when I was in rough water.

i talked to my boat mechanic yesterday, and he asked if we were hitting wake or going through rough water too. it was smooth as glass when it happened. he figured it might be from something getting knocked around of vibrated, but it was very calm when it happened. its gonna be trial and error on this one im sure. just dont want the error to happen when we are in the middle of the lake!

im gonna look at everything that everybody has suggested before i take it back out. thanks to all for the info!

Watch the gauges. If the gauges are shutting off with the engine, I would look hard at the cannon plug. I have had them cutout but not die when the ground wire was loose at the battery too.

Start with the easy stuff like cannon plug, ignition switch, grounds etc. Take paddles.

I too am having this problem on my port motor..... But it's more then just the motor I lose everything all power.... Sometimes it just flickers n & out other times it shuts off, can the kill switch just kill 1 motor? Does the kill switch shut off all power?

Guys anything?