Bilge pump electrical problem

[Chris Couch]

Have a 96' 884 that the bilge pump has quit working. I have pulled the pump out and is does work when touched to a battery posts but when I replaced it and the connections, it still will not power up. I removed the rocker switch on the panel and checked the terminals with a volt meter and it appears ok. Is it possible that the pump IS bad and is will run with its short leads but builds up too much resistance from the wiring? Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks, Chris

 

[Gene B]

More than likely a bad wire or connection. I would check the wiring going to the pump and the connectors. When I had to pull my fuel tank for a different problem I found that it was sitting on the wiring to the transducer and one of my pumps. Use a voltmeter to check for power at the pump. If you have power at the switch and not at the motor it's somewhere in between.



Gene

 

[Mark Lundgren]

There are several connestors for the wiring harnesses under your console. I have a 97 882 and had to replace a few of these connectors due to corrosion. If your switch is good and the pump is good that would be my guess. I am assuming you have already checked the fuse panle for any blown fuses?

 

[S Boring]

Put a meter on your wires first off. If your voltage is good there, go ahead and replace the pump would be my suggestion. Something could have happend to the motor causing it to draw too much and blow fuses, ect. If you dont have voltage at the connection where you removed the pump, start tracing it backwards all the way to the switch. Guess what I'm trying to say is that the pump running on straight battery juice may not mean that it is ok.

 

[Chris Couch]

Thanks for the suggestions...I got it figured out.

 

[Bill Hamilton]

Chris - If you have it figured out please tell us what the problem was!

 

[Chris Couch]

When you have a problem with a difficult to identify solution it usually best to start at the beginning. So I did, but only after pulling out the trolling motor batteries, pulling out the the bilge pump & cleaning it, replacing the terminal connections all the way back to the switch, checking the switch, so on and so forth I then decided to check the fuse panel again. Only this time, I pulled out ALL the fuses instead of the one I thought was the bilge fuse and low & behold I identified my problem. Thanks for asking Bill...

 

[Mini]

I am guessing that the main wiring for the fuse panel had a problem? I hope you decided to run a heavier guage wire when you fixed it.

 

[Chris Couch]

Thats a good point that I didn't think of. The wire to the fuse assemble and pretty much all the wiring itself didn't appear like it overheated.