215 with outboard pumps

[vzal]

The live well pump, raw water pump, and float switch stopped working at the same time. Most likely (IMHO) it's a burned fuse(s). A box in the battery compartment has a fwd bilge pump (not existing) and an aft pump labeled fuses. I assume, the live well, RW, and the switch are protected somewhere else. Does anybody know where are those fuses are located?
It's 1997 215 Explorer with Johnson outboard.
Thanks

[Circle Hooked]

Should be a breaker on the dash panel  below the switch,try resetting  it.

[vzal]

'Should be a breaker on the dash panel below the switch,try resetting it'

There is nothing on the dashboard. Just a main breaker in the battery compartment but it's on.

[pete]

the pressure switch on the pump could be stuck.check to see if you are getting power to the pump,use a test light or voltmeter.if that is the original pump it may be time for a new one.good luck

[vzal]

Thank you, Pete. But I'm trying to locate fuses. D'you know where they are?

[pete]

no,clue,I have circuit breakers under my switches,check the back of your panel.use a volt meter to check for voltage,may take some troubleshooting,you'll figure it out,could be a bad switch,broken or corroded wire.a volt meter will tell the tale

[Circle Hooked]

You should have a little rubber boot below each switch,that is the breaker for the switch above it,push it to reset it,besides the box by your battery there are no fuses just the breakers and they do sometimes go bad but there cheap.

A pic of my panel,the breakers are above the switches,your setup should be similar.

[Capt. Bill]

'Should be a breaker on the dash panel below the switch,try resetting it'

There is nothing on the dashboard. Just a main breaker in the battery compartment but it's on.

In the cabin behind the Helm, there's a round deck plate, with 4 screws in it. Thats the fuse box, pop out the plate and the box come out with it. Plenty of slack to work on and it has fork style fuses that have a habit of fallin out.  Put a little CRC electronics grease on them and spread the forks of the fuse slightly in opposite directions.

In case it isn't the fuses. The live well and raw water pump are one in the same. I have the same boat replaced mine once already. If your talking about the bildge float it could be the switch or the wiring. I still have the original bildge pump, but I'm on the second float and I had to completely rewire it. Aquasport placed the wiring harness in the bildge and the whole thing salted up. When I rewired it I tie wrapped the new wires to the wash live well hose just under the rear deck plate and put drops in to the pumps. Left lots of slack for future repairs as well.

[flounderpounder225]

since all of the pumps are not working, I would look for something they all have in common.... The ground bus which is also back in your battery well area.  All the black wires run to it, that bus bar supplies ground to all the devices in the aft section of the boat. Your Bilge Pump and livewell/washdown pump will have black wires running from them to this bus bar.  Follow the wires and at some point there will be a crimped "barrel splice" where they connected the ground wire it is probably full of green powder or even broken off.

[vzal]

Thank you, Capt. Bill, thank you Marc.
Your advises turned out to be most useful. Now that I'm back at the boat after the winter break the bilge pump itself does not turn on. The live well pump really had a bad connection at the fuse. The other two are OK. The ground is OK. I suppose that is nothing to suspect between the helm and the bilge. It's not a problem to check connections at the pumps. The problem is to reach to them. Does anybody know any trick other than on hand work?

[Capt. Bill]

Before you buy a new bilge pump pull it out of the bilge.  If it's the same as mine it shoud un-snap from it's housing and have enough slack in the wiring to reach the deck.  If not unscrew the plate its mounted on. You have to take the whole pie plate off the deck to get it through that way.  


With the switch off on the dash and the fuse pulled in back of the boat, slice back the leads, to the pump itself, enough to expose the wires on both hot and ground. Get a couple of jumpers with the alligator clips and clip them on the wires. Clip the other end directly to the battery and see if the pump starts. If it does, the wiring is bad, if not its the pump.

Since it happened to me I'm guessing its the wire, probably the ground.  So if the pump turned on, disconnect the hot lead and turn on the switch with the ground wire still on the battery.  If the pump turns on, bad ground wire. If not, disconnect the jumper from the ground side and put the hot side jumper back on.   It it comes on, bad hot wire, if not they're both bad.  

Once you determine which wires are bad and get the pump working from the switch, you have to repeat the process with the float switch. Same process except the float doesn't have a ground.  

You can do all of these tests with a meter if you have one.  I've always done it with jumpers, was the way I learned when I was a kid and old habits die hard.

When your done, seal the slices up with electrical tape and coat with a product called liquid tape. Looks like roof tar and creates a very nice seal.  If you have to cut out a piece or run a new wire, make sure you use butt splices and heat shrink over the splices. No twisting the wires with tape or wire nuts.  

Also, if a new ground wire is required, you can run that from the bilge pump directly to the ground bus in back of the batteries next to the main breaker. Hot wires have to go to the power source.

Hope this helps & good luck

[vzal]

Thank you, very much, Capt. Bill. It worked.
Vzal

[Capt. Bill]

No problem, glad to help