Outboard Motor Trim Pump

This is the hydraulic trim and tilt unit for a 90 hp Honda outboard.  The unit did not work, so I checked the resistence on the electrical leads and found that it was an open circuit (infinate resistance).  The most likely cause of this is stuck or worn brushes in the motor.  In this photo the motor has been removed and is laying on the work bench, the red stuff is hydraulic fluid where the motor mounts.

When I took the motor apart there was a bit of rust and corossion inside.  The brushes appeared to be OK, but one of the springs had rusted away. 

This motor is built with an internal overheat protection.  It is hard to see with all the rust, but there is two round electrical contacts mounted on a bimetal spring.  If the motor overheats the spring will open the contacts and stop the motor. 

The contacts did not work anymore, so I soldered a jumper wire across them.  There will no longer be an over heat control on the motor, but I think that it is unlikely to be needed in our cold climate.  I reinstalled this part and replaced the spring in the brush holder and the motor runs great now.

Yamaha Grizzly Starter

A customer brought in a Yamaha Grizzly that would not start.  When the start button was pressed nothing happened, not even a click from the solenoid.  The battery voltage checked out ok so I tested the power going to the solenoid coil.  A little probing around with a volt meter showed that the solenoid coil was receiving the start signal, but was not working.  The solenoid would have to be replaced. 

After determining that the solenoid was bad I wanted to check out he rest of the system so I jumped the terminals on the solenoid with a screw driver.  This test (which they actually recommend in the Yamaha service manual) can tell you a lot about the condition of the start system.  There are three possible outcomes of this test.  The most common result is no sparks and no starter movement - means that the brushes are worn out or faulty.  The second result is medium sparks and the starter turns - indicates the starter is fine but the solenoid is faulty.  The last result is lots of sparks but no movement on the starter - indicates that the starter is drawing a high amperage but cannot turn.

I found the last result, lots of sparks but no movement.  The next step is to remove the starter and see what is going on.  The plastic body work on the right side needs to be removed and the air intake hose on the clutch cover.  The first photo shows my hand reaching in to loosen the bolts.

Here is the starter sitting on the work bench.  I make a few reference marks on the motor casing before taking it apart.  These marks make it easy to get the end caps back on in the proper order and in the correct rotation.

Here is the starter with the end caps off.  The magnets are broken and the pieces were jammed in tight and preventing the rotor from turning.  I am not sure why the magnets broke.  One possibility is that the faulty solenoid prevented the starter from operating and someone decided to tap on it to get it going.  On a starter with wore out brushes you can sometimes get it to by giving it a few taps to loosen up the stuck brushes.  A few light taps are ok, but maybe someone pounded on it very hard.

Battery Cables

The main battery cables for outboard motors are a constant source of problems.  If the battery and cables are not secured in the boat properly they move around and the constant bending leads to a failure of the insulation where the cable enters the lug.  Once this insulation cracks the moisture gets into the wire and starts to corrode it.  As you can see in this photo, the end of this cable broke right off when I bent it.

To repair this cable I cut several inches off of the end to get back to a less corroded portion of the wire.  I then used a wire brush to clean the wire up in preperation for soldering.

I use a large punch with a rounded end to crimp the new ends on the cables.  You must use a large hammer and a solid surface to pound on.  A properly made crimp will produce enough pressure to bond the metal parts together (like a cold weld).  To do it properly requires a rather expensive tool with dies made specifically for each size fitting.  A hammer and punch comes close.

To ensure good electrical contact I solder the terminals after crimping them.  Remember to put some flux on the wire before you start.  It takes a lot of heat to make a good solder joint this size.  I use a propane torch for this.

To make a lasting connection you need to keep the moisture out.  I use liquid electrical tape to seal all the connections.  Simply brush it on and wait a few minutes for it to dry.

The last step is to put a few wraps of tape around each fitting.  This protects the seal underneath and also makes a simple strain relief to prevent the wire from bending right at the terminal.

Arctic Cat 366 ATV

I have an Arctic Cat 366 ATV that had a faulty ignition switch.  For the last few month I have had to wiggle the key around to make the machine turn on.  It gradually got worse, until it would not work at all.  I assumed that there was a bad electrical connection in the switch.

I removed the large plastic nut from the switch, unplugged it from the wiring harness and brought it to the workbench.

Before I took the switch apart I marked both pieces in case there was any confusion about how they go back together.  I have found that a silver Sharpie works great for marking things like this.

When I pulled the switch apart the corrosion was obvious.

I used a small wire brush to scrub the corrosion off the copper contacts.  Some of it was very hard and required a little scraping with a dental pick type of tool.

Before reassembling the parts I coated the contacts with a little silicone dielectric grease.  This stuff is great for preventing corrosion, I put it on almost every electrical connection.

Once I reinstalled the switch the machine worked fine.



Polaris Sportsman 500

I had a Polaris Sportsman 500 in the shop with electric starter problems.  It had a few corroded wires and loose connections between the battery and the starter solenoid and wore out brushes on the starter motor.

ATVs around here get used like automobiles in suburban America.  People make lots of short trips around town.  The engine gets started and stopped frequently.  This leads to a lot of wear and tear on starters and the electrical starting system.

This photo shows the brush holder assembly for the starter.  The brush on the top is completely worn out and the lower one is also getting short. 

I change these often enough that I keep a few spare brush sets on hand.  For some vehicles I have the complete brush holder assembly and for less popular models I have a few universal brushes that I can solder onto the original holder.  The universal brushes are cheaper, but the extra time to solder them on cancels out any savings.

C.O.

Polaris Sportsman 500

I recently had my own machine in the shop.  It is a 2008 Polaris Sportsman 500 with about 4000 miles on it.  It was not keeping the battery charged and the tachometer was not working.  The first thing to check in this type of situation is the output from the stator. 

The stator is a series of electrical windings around an iron core.  The flywheel on the engine has permanent magnets in it that surround the stator and  produces an electric current when the flywheel spins.  The power produced is an AC voltage that varies with RPM.  This AC current is converted into DC and regulated to a nominal 12 volts by the voltage regulator.  This is the same basic system that is in almost every small engine.

When I checked the output from my stator with the engine running I got an erratic reading that was very low (7-8 volts) at low RPM.  I then disconnected the plug coming from the stator and tested the resistance on each lead.  I found that one of the leads was shorted to ground. 

I pulled the side cover/recoil housing off the engine and pulled the flywheel to reveal the stator.  This photo shows what I found.  Several of the windings had burned insulation on them and one winding had a few broken wires.  Normally this would mean automatic replacement of this part.  I check around and found that a Polaris replacement part is around $500 and an aftermarket stator is about $250. 

Since this is my own machine and I am trying to be frugal I decided to fix the bad stator.  I cut and unwound the broken wire from the worst spot on the stator.  I then splice the remaining ends together and reassembled it.  When I fired the engine up it started charging fine.  The burned insulation on the other windings has me a little worried about the lifespan of this part, but I think it should be ok for a while.  I may look around for a good used one to replace it with.

C.O.

Tool Repair

My most used power tool is a 5" Milwaukee angle grinder.  It gets used for grinding, cutting, and sanding.  This particular Milwaukee model has a variable speed dial, but I never use it.  I always run it at full speed.

For the last few month the variable speed feature has been acting up.  Even though the dial is set for full speed the tool will only run at a slower speed.  If I turn it off and on a bunch of times it eventually works, but it has been getting annoying.

I decided to take it apart and see if I could bypass the variable speed unit.  In the above photo you can see the speed dial and the black electronic control unit just to the right of the screwdriver.

I made up a short jumper wire to bypass the electronic control.  I used crimp connectors that I also soldered.  I have found that this is the most economical way to make long term reliable electrical connections. 

Better connections can be made with high quality closed end crimps and the proper matching crimp tool, but these are surprisingly expensive and not readily available.  If you are working on marine wiring it is worth it.  For most jobs generic crimps that have been soldered work fine.

This photo shows the jumper wire installed between the switch and the brush holder.  I left the original wire in and simply taped up the end of it.  The hardest part of most power tool repairs is fitting everything back in the case.  It took several tries to get all the parts and wires in the right location.  It no longer has variable speed, but now it starts reliably every time I hit the trigger.

Yamaha Grizzly 550

Today's project was a Yamaha Grizzly 550 ATV that would not start.  This is a newer machine with a fuel injected engine.  When I turned the machine on it displayed an error code "33" on the instrument panel.  I looked in the service manual and saw that code 33 was for an ignition fault.

I had to remove a body panel to get at the ignition coil, and once I saw it the problem was obvious.  One of the electrical connections to the coil had corroded so bad that it fell off.  Most repair shops would probably tell the customer that they needed to buy a new coil (probably $75), but I decided to try and save this one.  

I used my Dremel tool to grind away the plastic case on the coil and exposed a non corroded portion of the connection inside.  I then soldered a wire to this spot and crimped a new tab on the end of it.  To finish it up I put the coil back on the vehicle and sealed all the connections with "Liquid Electric Tape".

The whole job took about an hour and I avoided the cost and wait of ordering a new part.

  

Yamaha Grizzly 700

Today I have a 2007 Yamaha Grizzly 700 in the shop for an electrical problem.  The machine would run fine, but it was not keeping a charge in the battery.  I checked out the battery and the main electrical connections.  Everything seemed fine so I moved on to the voltage regulator and stator.  There is really no way to test the regulator, but it is easy to check the output of the stator.  With the engine running you should see 20 to 30 volts ac on the stator leads.  This one showed no voltage. 

When I pulled the engine side cover off it was obvious that the stator was bad.  In the photo you can see burned section on the right.  I did a little looking around on the ATV forums and discovered that these Grizzly 700s frequently burn out the stator at about 4000 miles.  This machine made it to 5500. 

C.O.

Corroded Wire

I had a Honda ATV in the shop today that had a charging problem.  It took a while, but I eventually tracked it down to a corroded wire going to the voltage regulator. 

ATVs around here operate in a salt water environment and it leads to a lot of corrosion problems.  The voltage regulator on this machine is mounted under the rear fender near the tire.  It routinely gets sprayed with water and mud  in this location.  It appears that the insulation on the wire was cracked where the wire bent sharply going into the plug.  The cracked insulation let the salt water get in and corrode the wire.

It was a simple job to fix.  I trimmed out the bad section of wire and soldered in a new piece.  When finished I made sure to seal it up well.  I like to wrap connections like this with electrical tape and coat them with "Liquid Electric Tape."  In this case I was out of the Liquid Tape so I used tape a coating of RTV silicone.  Adhesive shrink tubing also works well, but you must have the type with adhesive inside.  The cheaper kind without the adhesive does not work as well.

Honda TRX 420 Rancher

Today I have a 2008 Honda 420 Rancher in the shop.  It has an electrical problem, as soon as the key is turned on the ignition fuse blows.  The cooling fan also runs all the time.

I had to strip off the racks and fenders to get at all the wiring.  The machine is in pretty good shape.  There is no obvious signs of damage or abuse anywhere.  I unplugged everything that I could think of from the main wiring harness, put a new fuse in and started plugging things back in and checking the fuse. Everything seemed ok. The last thing that I plugged in was the ECM (engine control module, the black box that runs the fuel injection and ignition).  As soon as it was plugged in the fuse blew and the fan came on.  That of coarse leaves me wondering if the ECM is the bad part? 

I am going to look around for another used ECM  and see if that fixes things.

Update:
I found a used ECM and that solved the problem.  Total time in the shop, 3 hours.  Most of that was taking the racks and fenders off to get access to the wiring.

Yamaha Outboard

Sometimes what's in the shop, isn't in the shop.

We have a lagoon near our village that makes a natural harbor where you can keep your boat safe from the big waves on the ocean beach. This is where most people keep their boats. Today I was down at the lagoon working on a newer Yamaha outboard. The owner told me that the wires from battery get hot enough to smoke and the motor is hard to start.

It turns out that the main battery cables had a small damaged area that had allowed the copper wires to corrode. The corroded section of wire caused so much resistance that the wires did actually heat up and smoke when you tried to start the motor. The salt water environment is hard on electrical equipment.

It was a simple job to cut off the wires before the bad spot and put new terminals on the ends. I crimped and soldered the new terminals on and reconnected them to the motor.

C.O.

Arctic Cat ATV

Today I worked on an Arctic Cat ATV. The owner towed it down to my place and I actually worked on it outside since the weather was ok and the shop had other things in it.

When I got the vehicle none of the electric system was working. The battery checked out fine at 12.4 volts. A modern ATV like this has about 6 fuses and they all check out good. I finally traced the problem down to a corroded wire leading to the ignition switch. The wire actually corroded away and broke off right where it went into the plug for the switch.

Once I located the problem it was a simple job to solder a new wire between the plug and the main wire harness.

C.O.