www.iFourWinns.com

Strange thing happened this past weekend. My battery was dead since the boat had not been used in awhile and I had been running the bilge allot more than usual due to recent heavy rain. I charged the battery, pumped out the bilge and ran the boat around for about 10 minutes. When I got back to the dock I turned the ignition key to off and the engine continued to run!
I tried:
- turning the key back and forth several times
- pulling the safety lanyard
- disconnecting the battery
- disconnecting the relay
Nothing worked it just continued to run.
Finally I pulled off the spark plug cables and the engine died ( got a little charge while doing that)

I have had several issues with the ignition/electrical system this season. I recently replaced the starter, relay, distributor cap, and spark plug cables.

The water in the bilge might have come up to the level of the engine in the past week. The starter is pretty low on the engine. Could water in the bilge have damaged the starter?

Any ideas what might have caused this issue? Repair?

1999 Four Winns 190 Horizon
Engine: Volvo Penta 4.3GL
Drive: Volvo Penta SX

Try replacing your ignition switch. Should cost you around $25 or so...

_________________
-Tony
2016 Robalo R200 w/Yahama 200!

Previous boats:
2003 Four Winns 248 Vista - sold
1994 Sunbird Corsair 200 - sold
1980 Checkmate Predictor - sold

It sounds like you're engine is dieseling.

_________________
1981 Columbia 8.7
2015 Yamaha FZR - 87mph - sold
2006 Yamaha GP1300R - sold
2003 Chaparral 215 SSI - sold
2009 Stingray 195CS - sold
2000 Four Winns H180 - sold
1976 O'day Daysailer II - sold
Rick's Four Winns H180 Mods/Upgrade Thread

I had the same thing happen with my 2004 5.7GXi when I started it up ion my drive a few years ago-

No instruments working
Turning off the ignition did not stop engine.
Removing kill cord did not stop engine

It was definately not dieselling, it was idling as it always does.

I removed the plug (low voltage) on the distributor which stopped it immediately ( plus no high voltage jolt for me !).

I found a very poor connection at the 2 wire multiplug feeding the helm, plus corrosion on some studs (ground and +12V) at the starter motor). Sorting those out fixed the problem.

It's very worrying, it could happen when the boat was in use; I presume the output from the alternator was somehow feeding a voltage input to the ECU.

Graham

All a battery is for is starting. Once an engine is running, it's running off the alt. Different electrical designs work differently, but in Chevy (MC & VP) the battery is not in the "loop", so disconnecting it doesn't power down the electrical system and things will continue to work as normal.

_________________
1981 Columbia 8.7
2015 Yamaha FZR - 87mph - sold
2006 Yamaha GP1300R - sold
2003 Chaparral 215 SSI - sold
2009 Stingray 195CS - sold
2000 Four Winns H180 - sold
1976 O'day Daysailer II - sold
Rick's Four Winns H180 Mods/Upgrade Thread

Yes, but the supply to the ECU is meant to be via the ignition switch and kill cord switch, even if it isn't direct ( i.e. the supply via that circuit is probably used to trigger the ignition relay, which in turn connects the alternator voltage to the ECU. Somehow, in my case the very poor connection or possibly the main connection to the helm disconnecting after the engine had been started caused the ECU to get voltage from somewhere else in the main VP fusebox/ relay box, like the ignition relay " latched on" !

It's never done it since.

Graham

Thanks for the responses

I started it yesterday at the dock, ran the engine for a few minutes, then turned the ignition switch to off. This time the engine kept running for a few seconds then turned off.

The boat has been excessively damp the past week. The culprit may have been some moisture or corrosion somewhere in the electrical system.

Taz42169 – I think that I will try replacing the ignition switch this off-season. Seems like an easy/cheap job.