I have a 1999 Javelin Ski & Fish with a 200hp Evinrude Ficht motor (I know a lot of people have had problems with these motors; I've had this boat since 2001 and it's only needed to go to the shop 3 times & one of those was for a factory recall item so I can't complain!).
This started with the boat running fine, but fuel gauge no longer working.
- 1st thing I did was find the fuel level sender & shorted the sender wire (pink) to the ground with the ignition on. No response from the gauge.
- Since the tank is full, I decided to check resistance between the two posts on the sender (with the pink sender wire disconnected. It read close to 0 ohms which I believe is correct for a full (or very close to it) tank so I decided the problem was with the gauge itself.
- My boat has a panel that holds all the gauges; the panel screws into the console so I removed the screws to access the fuel gauge.
- The fuel gauge has 4 wires going to it (Pic of the gauge attached)
- S = Pink sender wire
- GND = Black ground wire
- T = Purple wire - not sure; assume it's gauge power as it daisey chains between the gauges
- Spade connector = blue - not sure; assume it's nav lights power but not sure. It daisey chains to each gauge and if I disconnect it the gauge light goes out so it's either nav light power or ground. Didn't check it.
- I disconnected the fuel gauge so I could take it inside the house to research it (there's a sticker on it with a part number).
While disconnecting the gauge, I may have shorted the purple (T) wire and the black (GND) wire. Not sure if it shorted or if I heard the ring connector sliding over one of the threads. But, I was concerned I might have popped a fuse so tested everything on the console -- everything works (nav lights, anchor light, bilge, aerator, & horn)...
But, now the motor won't start -- I get nothing when I turn the key. Normally the self test indicator lights in the tach would come on and then go off one by one, I'd hear the fuel pump running (or something I've always assumed was the fuel pump) & there'd be an audible tone. Now I get nothing.
I've double checked:
- Throttle is in neutral
- No blown fuses that I can find (but my fuse panel doesn't have one labeled for Ignition so not sure where ignition fuse is). In addition to the fuses in the fuse block, there are two inline fuses (both good; look to be radio & my fish finder) and I found a 10a mini fuse on one of the positive leads at the battery - also still good.
I've also attached a picture of my ignition switch. I have no diagram for it; can anyone tell me which wires are what so I can test to see if the switch is getting power
(I did test for voltage between the red wire at the switch and ground on the fuse block & didn't get power there which seems odd to me but without any diagrams, I'm not really sure if that's normal?)
This has to be a fuse or connection that got pulled loose moving the gauge panel or possible something that shorted. Any suggestions on sequence to test for power/continuity?
Appreciate any help anyone can offer!
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Originally Posted by rficalors
