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2003 Sportster LE - DEAD

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bigtexan99

bigtexan99

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Hi, I just joined the forum as I just purchased a 2003 Sportster with the 951 Rotax.

I'm super excited, but "Houston, we have a problem".

The boat is dead. I mean dead dead. Nothing works. No lights, no blower, no beep beep when connecting the key to the DESS. Nothing.

Here's what the previous owner told me.

The engine was replaced a few months ago (unknown as to why) and the boat operated normally for a few hours. Then the boat went electrically dead. Towed to shore and trailered to the dealer where....everything worked normally. Back to the lake the next weekend and boat operated for about 30 minutes, then went electrically dead. They put the boat up for sale.

Now its mine......

Where to start? I'm handy with a wrench but not that great electrically. The battery is good and reads 12.38 volts.

Suggestions are most welcome...I'm of to search the forums and learn.
 
I will start with the ground wires. Is there a way to jump power from the battery to the blower/lights/bilge to make sure that they are working?
 
i would think it would be ok to run jumpers directly from the pos & neg battery posts to the connections on the bilge pump etc, but since I'm not 100% sure I'm not going to tell you it is ok.

In additiion to checking the connection points from the battery, also check the wires themselves, they will sometimes corrode internally, if the wire feels crunchy it needs replaced.

If you don't find a bad wire/connection, I would then have the battery load tested. From your description the battery does not sound to me to be the culprit but reading 12.3V does not mean it has the amperage to start the ski. From your description of intermittent starting/dying, my first guess is that you have a wire that is making intermittent contact based on position
 
Thanks Jake. I won't have any time to look at it until the weekend cause it gets dark so early now. I'll update this post when I try some stuff and if anybody else has any other ideas, please let me know.
 
Check all the battery cables neg and pos, check all the fuses in MPEM. You can run test wires to the fan, pump, radio and that to see if it works. If the rest of the wiring looks good I would look at the MPEM since everything runs through it to power everything on the boat.
 
I had a little time tonight to look at the Sportster so I went out with a flashlight. Yesterday I charged and tested the battery and it is good.

Tonight I replaced all the fuses in the MPEM with new ones. One 7.5 amp fuse was blown. Still no electrical signal to lights, blower, DESS.

Removed and cleaned the Master Battery switch. Tested and its fine. Re-installed.

With Master Battery switch on, I jumped the starter solenoid points with a screwdriver. It sparked and the engine cranked. Immediately removed the screwdriver. Still nothing working electrically.

Can I infer that the ground is good if the engine cranks when jumping the solenoid?

Thats it for today. Did not get to look at the ground from the battery. That's next on the list.
 
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On my 2003 Sportster LE with the 951 (carb) there is only one power connection coming off the battery. It goes to the master battery switch, and then from there to one side of the starter relay.

Does that mean that the relay is a single point of failure for all electricity? Based on the above, for the lights, blower, or stereo to work...power has to be flowing across the starter relay.

Is my problem just the starter relay/solenoid?
 
Here is from your manual..... Power Distribution...
The MPEM distributes power from battery to all
accessories. Accessories are protected by 2 fuses
blocks integrated in the MPEM. For fuse identification,
refer to MPEM TESTS farther in this
section and look for Identification of Fuse Blocks
on MPEM
 
howie099 said:
Here is from your manual..... Power Distribution...
The MPEM distributes power from battery to all
accessories. Accessories are protected by 2 fuses
blocks integrated in the MPEM. For fuse identification,
refer to MPEM TESTS farther in this
section and look for Identification of Fuse Blocks
on MPEM
Click to expand...

Thank you. How does the MPEM get its power? If you review my post, you'll see that is the question I'm asking. Would a faulty starter solenoid/relay prevent power from getting to the MPEM and them from the MPEM to the accessories?
 
Let me take a lood at my boat and see how the power cables go. I know I have like 5-6 of them. I have 2 engines so I know I have to larger cables for sure.
 
Great, thanks! On my boat there is only one wire coming off the battery...and it goes to the Master battery switch and then to the starter solenoid/relay. After the starter solenoid, then there is a bunch of wires.

I took my key to the SeaDoo dealer today and put in on another boat. It beeped. So, at least I know the key is good.
 
ok according to your diagram right after the disconect you main power wire splits off into 3 power wires. 2 of them go to the MPEM and the other goes over to the starter relay. Looks like there is 2 20AMP fues for those 2 powers that go to the MPEM. If for some reason if all the wires come from the starter realy to the MPEM it would still work are long as they are hooked on the post that doesn't need to be energised(the power cable going to starter). It that is the case the wires are all on the side that only gets power when you start the boat everything would only work as you are cranking it.

Someone could of botched that, but it should be easy to see. All the cables will be on the wire going to the starter and not on the wire comming from the disconnect.
 
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Howie thanks! I'm a bit stumped though. I most definitely do not have 3 wires coming from the battery or the battery on/off switch. There is just one...and it goes to the starter relay/solenoid.

My system looks exactly like the one pictured here... http://partsfinder.onlinemicrofiche.com/seadooforums/Seadoo_oem/Seadoo_JB.asp?Type=13&A=83&B=26

On my boat, parts 59-63, the 15 amp fuse block and wires that run off of it are on the 'engine side' of the starter relay/solenoid. Is it possible that the fuse block should be mounted to the 'battery side' of the starter relay/solenoid?
 
it does look like that wire that connects to the 15AMP fues block should go back to the MPEM, but I don't think it's suppose to go to the engine side. That wire does show that is goes back to the battery so you I would move the wire to the battery side. The LE model doesn't have an exact wiring harness picture it's not in the manual that is made for the LE. The easiest way to trace back is find the main 2 power lines coming out of the MPEM. Should be easier to pickout since they should be read with a fues in them.
 
Awesome, thanks!!! I can't tell from that drawing which side its 'supposed' to be on... but after thinking about it some more I just went out and moved it from the engine side of the starter relay/solenoid to the battery side. BINGO! I now have working Lights, beep beep, and blower motor. I pressed the on/off and it cranked for a second then stopped.

Now, I'm getting a steady low humming buzz that sounds like its coming from the starter relay/solenoid area. Let me go search the forums on that. Or if someone know what it might be?
 
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The humming noise is the bilge pump. It won't stop running. I popped it off and cleaned the filter and the grates. Put it back in and put the water hose in and it pumps out water. But it still won't turn off unless I turn off the master battery boat switch.

The engine will not start. It cranks 2 or 3 times than 'locks' and stops cranking.

Ideas?
 
I'm going to have to check the wiring on the bilge to see if its correct.

UPDATE:

I just found a picture of the power box from the shop repair manual. It turns out that the whole starter relay/solenoid was wired backwards.

The boat had the battery wire going to the starter side of the starter relay/solenoid and the starter wire going to the battery side of the starter relay/solenoid.

I swapped them.

The boat still won't start, although like in the video posted above it will now crank 3-4 times before stopping.
 
FINAL UPDATE: The boat is running!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks to everyone for their help. In the end it was as follows: Starter solenoid was hooked up in reverse...the positive battery cable was going to the wrong side of the starter relay/solenoid.

The bilge pump is stuck on 'auto' but I cut the 'auto power' wire going to the bilge and now am running it manually from the console switch. I may replace the pump later.

The engine would not turn over or crank because it was full of oil. I don't know why the previous guy put so much oil in there. Pulled the plugs and let it blow out while cranking it. Had to put some towels over it to catch the oil.

The only issue I see now is it did not want to idle at low speed...it wanted to race up to 5k RPM's. I'll do some research on that an open a new thread later if needed. I won't be able to put the boat in the water for a couple of weeks, so I may not have an update for awhile.

Thanks again!
 
The racing reving engine turned out to be a badly adjusted throttle cable. There was no free play in it, and it would not let the butterflies in the carb fully close. Actually took off the throttle cable mount and reversed it, then re-adjusted the wire. I wonder if it got reversed during the engine replacement? It idles nicely now. Tomorrow....the 1st test in the water!!!
 
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