Wet Gauges leave my Cummins dead in the water

[Vince Luciani]

It appears that my gauge wiring got slightly wet in last weeks rain. (I'm embarrased to day that I do have some leaks around my gauge panel) When I started my engines yesterday after 4 dains of wind driven rain, I got a low voltage alarm on the starboard engine and I know that I don't have low voltage. I went out for a ride anywaywith the alarm light lit figuring it would reset when the alternators kicked in. As soon as went to power up, my port engines quits completely. (The starboard keeps running even with the low voltage alarm) I push the reset button on the port engine, but it keeps tripping everytime I turn the key. I figure its related to the rain since everything was running perfectly last Sunday before the rain. I got the hair dryer out and dried my gauge panel wiring and the electronic circuit board. Afer some drying the low voltage alarm goes away on the starboard engine and I am able to reset the port engine and start it. I figured I fixed the problem.

Wrong! I take her out fishing yesterday afternoon. I run the boat for a good 3 hours drifting Indian River Inlet for stripers. I started and stopped those motors at least 25 times and everything was OK. I decide to drift out fornt of the inlet and as I get ready to return from the ocean, the port engine dies right in the inlet. I get home on one engine. This morning she starts up and i figure she just needed to dry out some more, I take her out for a ride and then she quits on me again and I can't get her to restart.

Do any of you Cummins guys have any ideas? I saw form the boatdiesel.com site that Uncle Vic had a similar type problem with the low voltage alarm. How did you end up fixing your problem?

Also, that reset button seems more like a fault protector than a circuit breaker. I was suprised that a problem in the gauge panel can leave you dead in the water. Do you mean to tell me that if a gauge goes bad, it trips the whole circuit and cuts off your engine. Is that how its designed?

As always, thanks for everyone's help.

Vince

[In Memory of Vicroy]

Vince - the alarms won't shut the engine down.....the 12v + goes thru the ignition switch then back thru the harness to the "run" solenoid. You have a fault in the ignition switch or maybe one of the plugs in the harness under the panel. I have had both ignition switches go out after getting wet. Take some CX and shoot it in the plugs and in the key slot of the ignition switches and wait a while. Clean the circuit board (both sides) gently with CX and an old tooth brush. I have one bad circuit board and just ignore the low volt light on that side since I have voltmeters on the panels and my Garmin has a digital voltmeter function too. Those damn little circuit boards cost about 350 bucks to boot.

I've had to jump an ignition switch offshore to get home....keep a short wire with alligator clips on each end handy.

UV

[John Jackson]

I had the same problem after bangning into a nasty head sea on the way back from Atlantic City when water got in and ran over the dash panel. Turns out if water drips onto the circuit board it can short it out. Mine ran with the alarm stuck on, then when it dried out it was on and off, but I had it fixed right away. The mechanic was able to tell that the thing was cooked the second he looked at it. Said it is very hard to keep it from happening on such a wet boat and that it happens a lot. I sealed mine up as best as I could and just do my best to keep water off the dash. Haven't had a problem since, knock on wood. Check with JP, I think he moved his where they are less likely to get wet.

[Vince Luciani]

Thanks guys. I found my problem and it was in the ignition switch as you suggested Uncle Vic. In my case, it was the fuel gauge that I had wired to the ignition switch, not the switch itself.

John, it appears that I may have gotten lucky regarding the circuit board. It doesn't appear to be damaged. My alarm system seems to be working fine after it's been dried out. I hope it stays that way. It's amazing to see what a little water can do.

It still seems to me to be a somewhat fragile component in an otherwise bulletproof engine.