Melted Positive Battery Terminal While Riding

[Robryan]

I have a 2010 Sea Doo GTI SE 155 that I just replaced the battery for the summer. I took it out and she rode great for the day. Then the next time I took her out she just quit on me. After noticing I had no power to the ski I looked at the battery and the positive terminal had been melted off. I towed the ski back to the ramp and got a new battery. After installing the new battery she wont start. It sounds like it wants to but just doesnt have enough juice to turn her on like she likes it. So my question is what would make the battery terminal melt off like that. It was screwed down pretty tight so I know it wasnt arching. (it was just the terminal that was melted and not the actual wire) and all the fuses are still good. And why would she not be getting the power from the new battery to start her now.

Any help would be great!
Thanks

 

[Coastiejoe]

Partial short and poor connection.

You need to look at all of the main positive and negative cables VERY well. Also where they attach. You should remove them and wiggle the ends. If they make a crunching noise and or white powder comes out, they are junk. At the connections you should clean all the ends, and where they mount. Then use dielectric grease when putting it back together.

 

[Robryan]

Here is an up date to any one who may read this in the future. The jet skis status this morning was that it was trying to crank but just didnt really seem like it had enough power. I had originally thought that it was a bigger electrical issue because the previous time it had messed up, the positive terminal had melted off. Probable reasons for this was either the starter got stuck on some how or the wire was arching because it wasn't tight enough. But while I was talking to the guy who was riding it when it melted things became a little more clear. The starter didnt get stuck open his finger never came off the start button when it wouldnt crank. So we were able to narrow down that problem. Now we decided to replace the starter. No big deal got one from a dealer put that bad boy in cranked the jet ski and she started harder than we have ever seen it. Problem solved or so we thought...... we decided to run some water though her and went to start it and she sounded like she still wasnt getting enough power. Hooked up the multimeter to it and the battery which is brand new was running at 12.03 volts. So to see if the battery was the problem we jumped it off from the truck. Now she had 14.06 volts and sounded a lot stronger but she didnt really turn over like she needed to or even turn over it would just click. It started raining so we couldnt go check all the connections like we needed to. Then I finally decided that we should check the relay by bypassing it witch a screw driver. Every time I touched it she started hard like she needed to. Then we put the key in and started it by bypassing the relay. Soooooo now we are thinking that it might be the 30$ relay that has been giving us problems and it probably didnt need the 150$ starter. But at least we think we know what the problem is and we got a brand new starter in the ski. Tomorrow im going to go buy the relay and put it in and report back and let yall know how it runs

 

[Coastiejoe]

FYI, you should NEVER jump the ski from a running item and or a charger. It will feed more than 2.5 amps into the system and can easily destroy the MPEM.

If you jump the solenoid and it cranks poorly, it is not the solenoid. It could be a poor connection at the solenoid, but not the solenoid itself..

 

[Robryan]

I hope I didnt ruin the MPEM. I did notice that there werent any more beeps when the lanyard was attached and while we were doing it my friend told me there was an error code. I dont remember the number. Ill find out in the morning...... where is the MPEM

 

[Coastiejoe]

The beeper itself fails pretty often. It may have simply gone bad. Most replace them with something from Radio Shack. If you can get the code, post it. However,,, it is VERY common for a ski to throw codes when the battery voltage drops low or the battery is bad. I just had mine throw 11 codes all relative to the IBR and MPEM, not a one was a legit issue. All came back to a partially shorted battery.

 

[Robryan]

This morning I went to check the jet ski and this is what I found. Plugged in the lanyard and every thing showed up on the screen as normal. It gave me the loud beep letting me know the key was in then shortly after it gave me the two beeps reminding me the key is in. But after that no more beeps. Just got this jet ski a few weeks ago and I havent ridden it so I dont know if thats normal. The person riding it said he didnt really know how much it beeped before all of this. But my RXP beeps like its nobody's business so I dont think something is right. So no more beeps.... and I decide to start it. I press the button and I get a half ass turn over. I press it again and I get the same. Third time she starts up no problem. (This is why I think I have corrosion inside the Relay) She runs fine with no error codes popping up on the screen like before. I shut it down and check all the fuses and they are all good. I start it again no problems.

I dont want to speak too soon but....... I hope im in the clear. Do you think that its possible that Sea Doo may have fixed the newer models of skis to the problem of Skis getting jumped one time and then ruining there MPEM? Thats a 900$ part that Im sure many people have blown. You think a big time company would see that there is a problem. I think its kinda shanty that Sea Doo doesnt have a sticker in the inside of the Ski saying HEY DONT JUMP THE BATTERY.

Im going to replace the relay in a few minutes to see if I can get the ski to start on the first push of the button. Ill take the old one apart and let yall know what I find.

 

[wfo speedracer]

There are stickers all over that ski that say do not boost battery, big ass companies like Seadoo do that sort of thing to cover their ass.

 

[Robryan]

I installed the new relay and metered the battery at 12.03. It started but still sounded like it was starved for more power from the battery. Out of all the info I have been reading I feel like I saw some where that the GTI's have I higher compression rate than other jet skis and some people get larger batteries with more Cold cranking amps to help with giving it the boost it needs.

Could the problem have been that the new battery that I bought from the dealer just not really have been what the jet ski wants?

after it slowly started I wanted to try it out again and it started a little worst than the first time and then I tried again and it was a no go. I metered the battery at 11.44. I am going to take the battery out and put it on a trickle charger and let it charge and take it out on sunday and see if it stays charged. Sorry If im all over the place. My mind is going a million miles an hour because I dont like to get beat by a machine

Side note when I put the lanyard on I got two short beeps and then nothing after that. I cant find a manual to tell me how often it should beep.

 

[wfo speedracer]

What is the MFG of yhe new battery you installed and what are the specs , I have seen brand new Wally World batteries that would not start skis before.

 

[Robryan]

It's a yuasa yb30cl-b.

 

[Robryan]

Can any one help me with the tests I can do to the battery? I remember reading them at different places on here but can't find them. Batteries should stay at around how many volts when starting. What should I look for on the volts while I actually am cranking it. And when I test it at 4500rmp how many volts am I looking for to see if it's getting the battery recharged?