Engine/electrical woes solved after two long years

[Captainsteve25]

Hey Everyone, I am sharing something I found after two long years of struggling to identify what was causing all my engine troubles

What was occurring:  both engines were giving erouneous code and sounding alarms on the gauges.  Constant water in fuel, low oil, no oil alarms on both engines.  Engines would go in SLOW mode (an evinrude safety feature when alarms sound)

What ended up being damaged: computer, fuel regulator/pump

What we found to be origin of all above issues: The plastic tubing that protects the engine wiring harness, fuel, oil and water pressure lines between its exit from the bilge in the stern to the engine cowling had over ten years collected some moisture (salt water), oil, fuel and of course temp variances from summer to winter. This caused the wires used for wiring harness to loose their insulation (it disintegrated) and short.  This also somewhat melted the oil, and water pressure lines.  After much research, we found Aquaport cheaped out on the wiring harness and did not use the OEM evinrude offered harness which was protected by a shield to prevent wires from being exposed to the above mentioned elements and come in contact with fuel, water and oil lines.  We also found splices with clamps in this section that cut away/chaffed the wire insulation.  So, poor design installation of fuel and oil hoses by not using a one piece hose, and aquasports choice to fabiracte their own harness and notuse a sleeve to insulate and protect them.

Fix-replace all fuel, oil and water hoses, replace oil senders, and replace wiring harness with evinrude OEM harness at a cost of 3k.

Aftermath:  perfectly running engine electrical system without any faults

If you have had similar issues or are having let me know, I can help you as I spent two years working on this.

[Captainsteve25]

For those interested, I picked up the boat this weekend and after replacing the computer on port, fuel regulator/pump on starboard, fresh plugs, she ran like new.  Two years of frustration finally resolved. Want to share with you that the only one whom was able to diagnose and fix my issues was Steve at Seabord marine. He and his mechanic are top notch and priced fairly. Btw- this improved my wot speed to 44 knots!!!

[RickK]

Nice detective work Steve  

[seabob4]

To clarify, Aquasport (and Wellcraft, of course), had their Merc and OMC engine harnesses fabbed by MM&G Electronics out of Virginia Beach even before I got there ('94).  Merc or OMC specific plugs at both ends to mate up with of course the motor(s) as well as the gauge panels.  The real fault in this case was a poor location of the rigging pipe running forward to keep water from not only entering the pipe, but also to not allow water to accumulate and sit in the pipe.

Just a minor clarification, carry on with discussion...