Boat issue and electrical burn smell......

[shockerfd]

My 97 Challenger was running great then slowly started hesistating and acting like it was missing or starving for fuel. Stopped boat thinking maybe it was a fuel or plug issue. Lifted rear hatch and smelled what was like an electrical smell which was quite strong. Hmm, not good. Boat starts fine but when giving it gas it coughs, hiccups and sputters then takes off a little and basically does this over and over and over. Not sure if this is a fuel or spark issue or something electrical related, hence the smell. So I was towed in not willing to risk further damage. I get back to dock and boat fires right up and sounds good. Get back home to flush it and no power ANYWHERE but battery is at 12.3 volts. Hmm, wth? I get two beeps with the key on but nothing. Out of frustration I wiggled the fan and bilge switches and then they click on. Boat now starts with power back on. ???? It was dark and late so no further investigating after that until tomorrow.

Any ideas on what's wrong? Fuel? Spark? Rectifier? MPEM? (please don't say that one).

 

[kustomkarl]

It sounds like it could be an electrical short in the harness around the blower or bilge maybe. If the mpem went south you'd get no beeps. Just give the wire harness a good look over for anything that might have caused the wires to touch the exhaust or something. This problem sounds a bit strange.

Karl

 

[shockerfd]

It sounds like it could be an electrical short in the harness around the blower or bilge maybe. If the mpem went south you'd get no beeps. Just give the wire harness a good look over for anything that might have caused the wires to touch the exhaust or something. This problem sounds a bit strange.

Karl

Would this short cause the boat not to run like it should, causing kind of a domino effect? Am I leaning toward an electrical issue rather than a fuel issue?

 

[shockerfd]

Just started looking into things and found a blown charging fuse. Not sure if this has anything to do with yesterdays mishap but do know the previous weekend the battery was dying out on the water and when I came back in it was below 12 volts. So it could have been blown before yesterdays outing and not sure if it contributed to yesterdays issues. I still need to find the cause of the electrical burn smell.

Now if this fuse did blow yesterday, would that cause strange electrical issues and the boat to run like it did? Hard to tell because the battery was at 12.3 volts when I came home last night.

I hate electrical problems. Going out now to test rectifier. ugh!

 

[shockerfd]

wouldn't let me edit but anyway, pulled plug from magneto and found the burnt smell coming from there. Although it smells, the plug shows no sign of been hot. Mechanical issues I'm much better at but electrical stumps me here and there and this is my first encounter with this boat.

I'm going to put in a new fuse and fire it up and see if anything noticeable happens. Any other ideas guys?

Thanks

 

[shockerfd]

Sorry to keep talking to myself here but I keep finding out new things and finally to a point where I do need answers from the experts. I went to put in a new fuse and it immediately blew before fully getting it in. So I unplugged the magneto and then put the fuse in with no problems. As soon as I plugged the magneto back in, POW, second fuse is gone. Now does this tell me my magneto is shot or something else?

fwiw, boat starts just fine.