1970 Donzi skisporter 16 electrical issues

[70donzi16]

Looking for a little guidance. I have a 1970 donzi ski sporter 16 I just bought.

Here's how I bought it.

-starter out
- trim motor wires not hooked up(prev owner said switch up front was bad.)


I installed starter and took apart and cleaned starter solenoid connections and battery terminal connections and a few others.

It fired up and ran well the first day out. that day I used my power probe to activate the trim motor to raise and lower the outdrive.


Today I ran to local auto parts store and grabbed a three way switch. Hooked up the wires back at the trim motor which all had their connectors still on them. Installed the new three way switch and noticed the little red light on the trim switch panel lit up. I hit the down side and up side and hoorah I had a working trim motor that I tested ran the motor up and down.

Fast forward half an hour and I am just launching the boat with my wife and son and I hop in after pushing off and I go to start it and it just cranks and cranks and won't start. I notice the little red light is no longer lit up when the key is switched on.

I pull my power Probe out and verify at the starter solenoid I am no longer getting power at the coil post when cranking and/or in run position.

Could bad wires for the trim motor have fried the starter solenoid?

I can't find any fuses in the boat at all.
Any help would be greatly appreciated

Thank you.

[mattyboy]

Looking for a little guidance. I have a 1970 donzi ski sporter 16 I just bought.

Here's how I bought it.

-starter out
- trim motor wires not hooked up(prev owner said switch up front was bad.)


I installed starter and took apart and cleaned starter solenoid connections and battery terminal connections and a few others.

It fired up and ran well the first day out. that day I used my power probe to activate the trim motor to raise and lower the outdrive.


Today I ran to local auto parts store and grabbed a three way switch. Hooked up the wires back at the trim motor which all had their connectors still on them. Installed the new three way switch and noticed the little red light on the trim switch panel lit up. I hit the down side and up side and hoorah I had a working trim motor that I tested ran the motor up and down.

Fast forward half an hour and I am just launching the boat with my wife and son and I hop in after pushing off and I go to start it and it just cranks and cranks and won't start. I notice the little red light is no longer lit up when the key is switched on.

I pull my power Probe out and verify at the starter solenoid I am no longer getting power at the coil post when cranking and/or in run position.

Could bad wires for the trim motor have fried the starter solenoid?

I can't find any fuses in the boat at all.
Any help would be greatly appreciated

Thank you.

did you just pick up the Grumble green one in Budd Lake NJ?

wiring on the older boats can be a nightmare, it has been a while since I had the 250 with the tilt setup but I seem to remember that the light is on when the drive is not all the way down once it is it went off. Regardless I would disconnect the tilt motor and look for the 12 volt hot lead coming from the switch it should run to a ballast resistor then to the coil . It could be anything a bad wire or a ground where it is not suppose to be. The best investment I made on my HM ford was new wiring harness and a breakerless ignition dist from mallory marine

make sure your grounds are good and eliminate any extra wiring like lights and other stuff I have the tilt wiring somewhere I post when i find it

good luck welcome

[mattyboy]

here is the HM wiring, not sure if this boat has a neutral safety switch or a Kill lanyard but if they do it is an area to look at. the neutral switch should not let the starter crank unless it is not in gear by breaking the start power thru the switch . the kill lanyard can be setup to break the 12 volts to the coil or to ground the coil

[mattyboy]

page 21 shows the tilt wiring check the LGDCC web site the resource page has some manuals on the volvo

http://www.lgdonziclassic.com/pdfs/HM200.pdf

http://www.lgdonziclassic.com/pages/resources_ps.asp

[70donzi16]

Mattyboy thank you so much for that information. I was having a very hard time finding any information through Google regarding the wiring and most information in general on these boats technical wise.

I have not found a kill switch anywhere that I noticed. My friend has a 75 ski sporter 16 and he does have one that is on the dash.

i will get back at it tonight to try and narrow down this issue.

[mattyboy]

remember the wiring could be a result of 40 years of additions deletions and general hacking depending on who has worked on the boat

I ordered a new merc harness with their plug and their engine harness the HM will have a few unused wires but you can find uses if needed the trim and trim sender are not needed on a volvo I used as an electric choke and for an electric fuel pump fuel pump. now if I need to go have my boat worked on buy a shop at least they will see a standard merc wiring code

I would eliminate as much as possible test the hot wire going to the coil while it is disconnected from the coil, then disconnect the neg lead on the coil and connect the hot lead to see if the dist is grounding out the coil. is it a points and condensor setup?


oh and post pics of your new ride

[70donzi16]

I did buy a grumble green one from up in north jersey. I am unsure of how to post pictures on the forum right now.

I don't believe it's a points setup but I can say the distributor looks like most 80s-newer autos over worked on where it's a rotor under the cap and no other mechanical parts that I could see .

[70donzi16]

I would like to add a radio and speakers, possibly a sump style system and port it through the hull for pulling the raw water to cool the motor so it's not down on the outdrive would the merc harness work well for that in regards to having enough extra wires?

[mattyboy]

it could be the module in the dist as well ignition problems can be a bit of a PITA

the merc harness is more for troubleshooting problems and knowing what wire does what as far as accessories they use their own wiring and they are either switched ( key on) like tabs electric water or fuel pumps or un-switched ( direct to battery) nav lights horn bilge pump. you may want to layout a fuse panel for each circuit

Wiring Colors for MerCruiser

BIA COLOR CODE AND ABBREVIATIONS WHERE USED

BLACK (BLK) All Grounds
BROWN (BRN) Reference Electrode-MerCathode
ORANGE (ORN) Anode Electrode-MerCathode
LIGHT BLUE/WHITE (LIT BLU / WHT) Trim- ”Up” Switch
GRAY (GRY) Tachometer Signal
GREEN/WHITE (GRN / WHT) Trim -”Down” Switch
TAN (TAN) Water Temperature Sender to Gauge
LIGHT BLUE (LIT BLU) Oil Pressure Sender to Gauge
PINK (PNK) Fuel Gauge Sender to Gauge
BROWN/WHITE (BRN / WHT) Trim Sender to Trim Gauge
PURPLE/WHITE (PUR / WHT) Trim-”Trailer” Switch
RED (RED) Unprotected Wires from Battery
RED/PURPLE (RED / PUR) Protected (Fused) Wires from Battery
RED/PURPLE (RED / PUR) Protected (+12V) to Trim Panel
ORANGE (ORN) Alternator Output
PURPLE/YELLOW (PUR / YEL) Ballast Bypass
PURPLE (PUR) Ignition Switch (+12 V)
YELLOW/RED (YEL / RED) Starter Switch to Starter Solenoid to Neutral Start


So in a Merc wiring setup you are looking for the purple wire If you have a ballast resistor you may have a bypass for cold starts purple yellow in a merc.

[70donzi16]

She lives again. New starter solenoid installed and she has spark again and fired right up. I am leaving the trim motor wires unhooked from the main harness for now and manually operating it with my power probe until I can re wire the boat completely