Port side electronics dead? 2006 ar230

[mrbill]

Hi all. Been lurking and learning and I have my first issue I can't seem to solve.

2006 AR230. I'm new to these.
I recently inherited this after the previous owner bought a new boat. It's in great shape but needs some love.

The port motor needed either a starter or a solenoid. The parts bin had what I thought was a new (oem) starter that installed yesterday. Same issue.
This morning, I bridged the starter relay and got some crazy sparks. No movement.

I took the starter off and bench tested it. Dead short and locked solid. The starter it originally had was just dead, no current draw.

So I go to put a spare starter in. I test it successfully in the motor jumping the terminals.

I go to test it with the key and there's no life. Starboard has life but port has no beeps or anything. No guage power, no beeps, nothing.

I checked the fuses in the black box. They tested good. With the key on, I get 12v at the source side of the 20a fuse.

So.. What's next? What am I missing? I fear that dead short injured something?

 

[dgfreeze]

Have you tested for 12v at the starter when the key is turned? Sounds like the solenoid is bad also, which is fairly common.

 

[mrbill]

Have you tested for 12v at the starter when the key is turned? Sounds like the solenoid is bad also, which is fairly common.

So I have morning developments.

I depressed the clean out latch buttons. It clicks on the key and after a few tries, it cranks just like before, so next step, solenoid. Once it cranks I see the tach bumping so I'm pretty confident it's happy. The pumps are currently out for replacement so that's as far as I'll get.

But with the port side key 'on' I don't get the depth finder or gas gauge power. So somewhere there's a failure between that key and the dash electronics.

 

[dgfreeze]

Good deal! Those solenoids are easy to replace once you get the ECU off. Just lay it on the engine, and pop the back off.