Low/high voltage warning, smoke + check starboard engine

[johnmctx]

Hi all - just picked up a 2016 242x E-series on Friday. Everything ran great on Saturday, but took it out for a few minutes today and ran into some problems. I turned off the engines as my son was coming on board from the water, and when I went to start the engines, got a low/high voltage warning. Then some smell, and when I opened the engine compartment, there was some smoke in the back of an engine. (Maybe a loose electric connection??). Luckily, was close to slip so came in on one engine but was also getting a check starboard engine warning. Voltage warning only when I try to start port engine. Check engine on all the time now. Connections look good to batteries. Obviously, most concerned about the smoke with a voltage warning associated. Any thoughts before I take it in to the shop later this week? Thanks!!

 

[tdonoughue]

This is a good one. Unfortunately, I won't say it is normal...

So, smoke and smell is a bad sign. Something electrical went poof. Sometimes people report smoke, but it is white and they don't smell anything (steam), which indicates some leak of water onto the hot engine or manifold.

At the back of the engine, I can think of basically two things back there: the ECM (high on the wall in the back) and the starter and magnito down at the bottom of the engine. I assume that if it were coming from those boxes on the back wall you would have said there was smoke from there (rather than the engine).

If the engine was not started yet when things went south, it would not be the magnito. If nothing is spinning, it is not making any electricity. So I think that is out.

That brings us to starter and solenoid. The solenoid energizes to move the cog of the starter onto the flywheel while the starter turns to start the engine. I am betting that is where your problem is. Very unusual to have smoke from that problem, but I have had experience (in a car) where the solenoid/cog got stuck on the flywheel and made quite a mess of some electrical cables.

I would look in the back of the engine near the bottom (wish I had a diagram handy, but someone here may have one) and see if you have fried cables. They would be big ones (like 0 or 1 gauge). Bring a mirror so you can look at the bottom side. Unfortunately, not probably an easy replace, so I would verify what burned before starting to remove engines and starters and things...

 

[Neutron]

The voltage regulators are mounted on the rear of the engine. It has a cooling line going to it. Each is mounted on the right side when facing the engines. They could definitely smoke when they fail and would give you voltage issues

 

[tdonoughue]

Ah, a much better answer. Odd that they would go on startup, tho, no?

 

[Seadeals]

If you fried something, checking for a blown fuse can point you in the right direction/circuit.

 

[johnmctx]

Thank you all for the replies and advice. I took it to the service folks at the marina and they could not replicate the problem. They ended up clearing the codes and replacing some spark plugs. Too the family out this evening, turned off the boat for about 20 minutes while we hung out in the water, tried to start it up and same issue popped up!! Uggh. I plan to check out the advice areas from your replies tomorrow and maybe help guide the mechanics in the morning on what to look for. Thanks again! Will post if we find the problem so that it may help others in the future.

 

[Seadeals]

Were the only codes they cleared for low voltage? Did you actually experience smoke again? When you smoke something electrical it is game over and easy to spot what got fried. It would be unusual to see/smell smoke again. Is the starboard still 1000% fine and battery/batteries in top condition?

 

[johnmctx]

Hi All - to close the loop on this, turns out there was a short circuit at the starter, and it had to be replaced. The rubber washer was melted, so that is probably what caused the smoke on the first day of the issue. Now that the starter is replaced, it starts like a champ and is not throwing off any codes. Now I am able to enjoy this boat!!! Next I will be searching for threads on the ballast circuits, as we tried to fill those and it kept asking me to hit SET to activate. I would do that, it would say ballast adjusting, and then it would go back to hit SET to activate. Went into diagnostics screen and it showed red for short circuit at Port Pump and blue for open circuits on both Center Pump and Startboard Pump. Ugh.

 

[swatski]

Hi All - to close the loop on this, turns out there was a short circuit at the starter, and it had to be replaced. The rubber washer was melted, so that is probably what caused the smoke on the first day of the issue. Now that the starter is replaced, it starts like a champ and is not throwing off any codes. Now I am able to enjoy this boat!!! Next I will be searching for threads on the ballast circuits, as we tried to fill those and it kept asking me to hit SET to activate. I would do that, it would say ballast adjusting, and then it would go back to hit SET to activate. Went into diagnostics screen and it showed red for short circuit at Port Pump and blue for open circuits on both Center Pump and Startboard Pump. Ugh.

Check @jcyamaharider recent posts on ballast calibration.

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