2016 z520 auto bilge not working

[Matt vaccaro]

Hey guys, just wondering if anyone has experienced the same thing? My auto bilge is not doing what it should. It only works when i press the button on the keypad but wont kick in when there is water in the bilge. Ive taken it out and replaced with a brand new one and same thing. I tested both in a bucket of water using a power wire to the auto wire of the pump and negative wire both connected to an old boat battery and pump works fine. Something telling me that there may be a short in the wire?? I even replaced the keypad with a brand new spare one that I have and still nothing. Any help much appreciated

[mikesxpress]

If it was operating correctly previously, and you can get the pump water detection (float or field) to operate in a bucket, then check the boat wiring/connector going to the auto side of the pump.

[Zpilot]

Might be a dumb question but are you sure there is enough water in the bilge to raise the float high enough to kick on automatically?

[dean c]

Might be a dumb question but are you sure there is enough water in the bilge to raise the float high enough to kick on automatically?

Yep...takes quite a bit of water to activate mine...OP pull your drain plug and back the boat down without sliding off the trailer...let it fill up pretty good and see if it kicks on.

[wmitch2]

The Pos connection of the auto side of the pump should go directly to the battery with a fuse connection. You should be able to activate it by lifting the check tab up and it will come on. Mine requires quite a bit of water before it will work. You can test it by putting in the bilge plug and filling the boat with a hose until it comes on. If the water goes over the top of the pump and still does not engage, then the float is bad.

[JR19]

It only works when i press the button on the keypad but wont kick in when there is water in the bilge.

Without looking at your boat I can only speculate...It sounds like you have a auto bilge pump with a float that is wired like a manual bilge pump that does not have a float. A true auto bilge pump is wired directly to the battery and has no switch to turn off/on. It is protected by an inline fuse and will have power available at all times but it will be off due to the float not being activated until water raises the float. Now with that being said you can still wire the pump so its manually controlled by a switch and this sounds like what you have.

Some boats have two bilge pumps...in this case one is wired through a switch and the other is wired directly to a battery. The biggest problem with one being wired directly to a battery is debris such as a small stick,leaf,rock/pebble or common trash can vibrate around and get stuck under the float. When this happens your pump runs 24/7 until the battery is dead. If your on the lake and hear it running you can fix it in time. If your towing home and something vibrates and gets stuck under the float and you don't hear the pump running after you park the boat you will have a dead battery when you go to use your boat the next time.

A true manual pump does not have a float and only comes on when the switch is on. I prefer to have an auto bilge pump with a float but have it on a switch. The reason being is in the event of a rain storm you can turn on the switch and let the float do its job but when you do not need it you can leave the switch off and not worry about the pump coming on when its not suppose to due to debris under the float.

Hopefully my explanations helped instead of creating confusion but to troubleshoot I would need to know your exact set up.

[mikesxpress]

On my Ranger you can press the bilge button once and turn on one pump and press again and turn on the 2nd pump. Reverse of that to turn both off.

Not all auto-bilge pumps have floats. Newer ones are field affect sensors that detect the water.

[dean c]

On my Ranger you can press the bilge button once and turn on one pump and press again and turn on the 2nd pump. Reverse of that to turn both off.

Not all auto-bilge pumps have floats. Newer ones are field affect sensors that detect the water.

yep...no float on mine..has the sensor.