No power at ignition

johnny44 · April 2023

A little help if someone can offer please. Feel like I am missing something.
My 350 EC is at the marina on land getting ready for being splashed in a month.
The marina finished their work (my winter list) and hooked the batteries back up. I hooked up power, made sure the battery chargers were on and charged all of the batteries for a couple of days. Went down to the marina today to check things out.
All systems have power EXCEPT both ignitions...turn the key and no oil pressure buzzer, no vesselview, no engine tilt. All things that operate via ignition. Everything else works.
I see the two battery switches at the transom by the transom door: one for the generator and one that says house battery - both are turned on. Is there a battery switch that I am missing somewhere?

YYZRC · April 2023

There are three rocker switches just above the house battery switch. Port, Emergency Parallel and Starboard. They only work if the battery switches in the engine bay are set to Auto. Green light will be illuminated if they are on.

If they won’t turn on, you will have to go into the engine bay and manually turn the batteries to either Auto or on.

aero3113 · April 2023

If what @YYZRC said are all good, each engine has a small 5 amp (could be 10 amp, I can’t remember) fuse on top of the engine. It’s located on the port side of each engine under a black plastic cover. I think it’s mounted near the ECM. That will cut out power to the ignition.

johnny44 · April 2023

Thank you! So helpful. That information will allow me to sleep tonight!

212rowboat · April 2023

There are also fuse blocks on the starter... 50a or 80a iirc... the only time I've seen them blow is at the beginning of the season for whatever reason and as odd as that sounds. Theyre a link type fuse- ends have rings and body between kinda extended and flat. They're not always red. The battery usually leads to the starter and relies on the solenoid to allow it to bridge all that amperage, but the rest of the engine powers off the other end of that fuse link... you can get the at just about any parts store for $10 or so. Many folks don't realize they're there as again they look like a link that just allows more things to be added to the circuit, but they are fuses and they do blow... and in my experience always at the beginning of the season.

If I had to guess why then and pretty much only then, I'd wager the starter is frozen up and demands a lot more juice to break free after sitting up a long time, and sometimes blows that fuse when it happens that way. All will seem well otherwise, but the key and starter will be dead as 3am...

I'll see if I can find a pic.

212rowboat · April 2023

Here is one type often used:

https://www.amazon.com/Starter-Assembly-Mercury-MerCruiser-88-79023A91/dp/B084D1S4CN/ref=asc_df_B084D1S4CN/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=416696790601&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=17100478490770367451&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9010181&hvtargid=pla-898720788625&psc=1&tag=&ref=&adgrpid=89137681330&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvadid=416696790601&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=17100478490770367451&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9010181&hvtargid=pla-898720788625

And here is another:
https://www.amazon.com/2-Mega-Fuses-80-Amp/dp/B00L1J81I2/ref=asc_df_B00L1J81I2/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=424677556300&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=17100478490770367451&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9010181&hvtargid=pla-899084127556&psc=1&tag=&ref=&adgrpid=98374953985&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvadid=424677556300&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=17100478490770367451&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9010181&hvtargid=pla-899084127556

It doesn't matter which you have, it's just one makes the connections you have easier to reconnect than the other would...

johnny44 · April 2023

Thanks for all of the help with this. The battery switches in the engine bay had to be switched to "ON". They were on Auto.

YYZRC · April 2023

@johnny44 all good with the VV? Did you get the ECM reprogrammed (update CITY ID)?

johnny44 · April 2023

The VV7 was a game changer for me. I did not trust the old analog gauges. It allowed me to actually see how the engines were performing, what I was running at WOT, and most importantly, where my cruising sweet spot was. (My cruising sweet spot was about 3700 RPM at roughly 26 mpg.) That was with the 4x3 21 pitch props. Now that I just installed the Hill Marine 4x4 20p, I can't wait to see if that will change (hoping it will bring it down to 3500 rpm...couldn't stay on plane at 3500 last year).

RE: CityID...I gave my mechanic the instructions you sent me. I have no idea what they meant, so I am hoping that it was done?!? @YYZRC Would I know if it wasn't done?

johnny44 · April 2023

***26 gph ***

I wish it was 26 mpg

YYZRC · April 2023

If you can see the engine data for both engines then everything is perfect and the City ID was correctly changed.

I can run at 3500 on plane with the 4x4s so you should be good. Time to plane is greatly improved, also.

JimGuy341 · April 2023

I had my port remote battery switch fail last summer. It resulted in the same symptom (no ignition power). I believe those switches have been discontinued so we're all on borrowed time.

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