New engine ready to fire but WONT! Expierenced techs Please Help!!!
 

Hey everybody, I'm about 2 minutes away from burning this god damn boat to the ground, so if anyone wants the charred remains of a Formula 242ls stay in touch! Lol, seriously though, I've spent all winter re-doing the boat, I removed the Silent thunder swim platform, filled the holes in the transom, re-painted transom, and built a custom tubular swim platform painted to match the boat. I also pulled the old ass bone stock 330hp 454, and did a complete rebuild. Stock displacement but with new flat tops, ARP rod bolts, Heavily worked over gen6 Vortec heads, 0.567 lift Comp Xtreme Marine cam, custom valve train, Team G intake, Holley 850, CMI sport tubes w/ dry tails and thru-hull tips, and the list goes on and on.... Well it's completely done and installed and ready to go. I've spent the last 5 days out in the pouring down rain in the dark rigging the damn thing up (always had to wait till I put the kid to bed, single dad here), and I got it all ready to go, except I'm not getting any power to the starter solenoid wire while cranking the key. I'm getting power behind the dash at the key when turned, but not at the starter. Removed the wire and re-tested and still nothing. If I power the solenoid with a power probe it will engage the starter no problem, so I know it's not a starter issue. I'm using the factory thunderbolt ignition set up that the boat came with, and it was running 100% perfect when I pulled it apart. It has 3 new batterys in it, and the only changes I made that are wiring harness related are the 2 wires that went to the factory carb (electric choke I'm assuming) that I'm no longer running. I was wondering if maybe there is something that is telling it that it isn't in neutral? I put the drive on with the shifter in neutral, and the drive in neutral, and that's where they both still are, but I noticed the shifter won't budge when you try to just nudge it forward, but it feels like it wants to easily fall into reverse? I have done neither since you aren't supposed to shift it not running obviously, just another thing I noticed worth mentioning?? If anyone out there has any hints, tips, tricks, or ideas PLEASE shoot them my way! Got a huge 4th of july planned at LOTO and I'm going into panic mode.... Thanks guys!

The neutral safety switch is part of the shifter assembly. Jiggle the shifter forward and back 1/2 inch while turning the key.

Double check to make sure the kill switch lanyard is secure.

Are you sure you don't have the wires on the starter wrong? That's where I would start.

there are 2 solinoids 1 on the starter 1 on the engine keyed power goes to the first 1 usually on left cyl head front of motor ..if that sol is bad it never reaches the one located on the starter .wire should be yellow w red tracer

This is where I would start too. Also, you can put a jumper on the leads going to the neutral safety switch to eliminate that as a problem. Does your boat have a lanyard? This usually just kills the ignition, but it's possible someone wired it to kill power to the starter circuit too.

Electrical problems can be maddening. You just have to be methodical and eliminate one cause at a time. A wire with alligator clips on each end makes a handy jumper, but a paper clip can work in a pinch. A DVM is valuable for this too. Good luck.

Check all the block grounds. Make sure they are all tight and free of paint and/or corrosion. I feel it's a ground issue, because you said you have power. Remember, grounds are everything in a 12 volt system!

Unfortunately I've already tried those things... I jiggled the hell out of the shifter, tried both posts of the starter solenoid, and tested power at the yellow and red input wire at the cylinder head mounted solenoid... which there is no power at key-crank position...

Then you have to start at the ign switch and work your way back to the engine with the test light or multimeter checking that yellow/red starter wire.......no way to get a simple answer on this one :(

Bypass the yellow wire to eliminate the possibility that it got pinched / broken somewhere. Then check the ignition switch to make sure it's not bad.

Does your boat have a dash accessory circuit breaker panel???