www.iFourWinns.com

Hi there, I'm new to the forum, seems like a lot of great advice on here!! Anyways, I bought a 2002 190 horizon last year. Worked fine all year long. This year, I went to put the battery back in and had some issues. Thought the battery was done so I brought it in for testing. Turns out it was near the end of its life so I bought a new one expecting to fix my electrical issues. Turns out that they are still present. Here is what is going on:
1. turn the ignition to acc or run and the horn will not work. When I hit the horn switch, no horn sounds but the blower and bilge switch lights come on?
2. turn the ignition to acc or run and the stereo will not come on. It will try to come on and shut off. I can hear a faint clicking noise coming from the back end near the battery area. The trim gauge also moves with this noise.
3. Ran engine normally. Just don't want to do any damage.

Any ideas on what this could be? Should I check the ground? How would you even get to the ground to check this? Are there any fuses that could be blown? Thanks in advance to anyone who knows where to look here.

dave

_________________
2002 Horizon 190 5.0L Merc

Yes, check your grounds. Looks like loose/dirty connections; prob at the batt.

_________________
Walt B
"Debt-Charged"
Black '07 H210SS
6.2L Bravo One turning a 21P HIFive
Wakeboard Tower with Perfect Pass Stargazer version
Missouri River; Kansas City, Mo.

There are a lot of ground wires at the engine; from memory, on mine ( small block V8) there are 3 points, none of which were protected by dielectric grease, so all showed varying degrees of corrosion.

Graham

Thanks for the responses. Anybody know how to get at these grounds? There isn't much room on those 5.0 mercs.

_________________
2002 Horizon 190 5.0L Merc

What about a relay? I can hear a clicking noise with the key in the run position. It is coming from the back end somewhere. Sounds like it could be starboard around the battery area? The clicks are about 3 secs apart.

dave

_________________
2002 Horizon 190 5.0L Merc

The ground points on a VP 5.0/ 5.7 V8 , probably the same as a Mercruiser as they use the same GM engine, are 2 on the starboard side ( one above the other, near the starter) and one on the port side, all at the rear of the engine.

Graham

Probably just the fuel pump kicking on and off during the start cycle. Mine makes the same.

Check, clean and torque all the batt leads first.. these are the most common culprit. Next, the engine ground, followed by the helm pos and neg leads. If that doesn't do it, keep on going!

_________________
Walt B
"Debt-Charged"
Black '07 H210SS
6.2L Bravo One turning a 21P HIFive
Wakeboard Tower with Perfect Pass Stargazer version
Missouri River; Kansas City, Mo.

To add to Walt's excellent advice, REMOVE each connection to check and clean it. Don't just give it a visual once-over or just re-tighten a clamp. Lots of times a corrosion problem isn't visible, it's only by taking the connection off the post (or wherever) that you might see problem.

Also, get a voltmeter (radio shaft sells 'em cheap) and check the DC voltages. Check it at the battery without anything connected to it. Then connect the main cables, make sure everything's off and check it again at the battery. The voltage should not drop much. If it does then something that got reconnected it drawing too much power. Next, start checking the 12vdc positive at the various devices that aren't working properly. There should, again, not be much of a voltage drop. If there is then there's an issue with the wiring going from the battery to that device.

When the engine is running you should see voltage between 13 and 14 volts. Anything above 15 or below 12 and you've got a problem with the alternator charging circuit. Same thing if you've got a shore power hookup and a battery charger on board. When there's no charging going on you should see 12 or slightly more. As the battery drains the voltage will drop. Try to avoid ever letting the battery get drained below 10 as that greatly reduces the life of it.

_________________
-Bill Kearney, 2005 348 Vista

+1
I had a small electrical issue, I pulled (weakly cleaned) every ground, tightened and checked all hot leads (actually found 2 that were kinda loose) but no avail. Going over it again I pulled the Battery cables and cleaned them GOOD (actually taking a file to them) checked and that was the problem...The battery ground cable connection. It looked clean to start with, but it wasn't.

_________________
'90 Horizon 220 5.8

Great advice guys, thanks for the support, I'll try these things. The only question I have is why does everything else run properly...ie it starts, runs and rides properly...just had it out today? The only things I see that aren't working are the horn, nav lights and radio.

dave

_________________
2002 Horizon 190 5.0L Merc

Because not everything is on the same circuit?

_________________
-Bill Kearney, 2005 348 Vista

I just took a quick look at the electrical schematic for your boat on the Four Winns website. It shows the grounds are are physically close to each other on the fuse block.

As said before bad grounds can cause lots of unusual things to happen.

_________________
Terry
Current: 07 Crownline 255 CCR cuddy - 350 Mag MPI/B3 "Casi Cielo"

Previous:97 245 Sundowner 5.7GI/SX

Tow vehicle: 1986 GMC 2500 Camper Special 454/TH400

On mine everything worked good the gauge showed good (although it was a little "bouncy"), the only thing that acted weird was whenever the tilt/trim was used the engine bogged down some (physically dropping rpms). Later a cable started getting hot (not bad but hotter than it should). To reiterate "grounds do weird things". If grounds are not your problem at least it is cheep, quick maintenance and something you could cross off your to do list.

_________________
'90 Horizon 220 5.8

Thanks guys, are you able to get at these grounds to check them? What is the easiest way to locate them? My battery connections are good. I guess that just leaves the engine block?

dave

_________________
2002 Horizon 190 5.0L Merc

As the Merc V8 block is the same GM one that VP use, the grounds may well be in the same place; some of those on mine were clearly engine wiring loom related, with other ground wires added to the same studs. 2 studs by the starter and one on the opposite side of the engine just below the inlet manifold.

Graham