Fish-Hawk.Net

Hey all,

I need my fish-hawk friends to help me out here. So a while back my recirc pump for my livewell began to act up on me. Id turn the switch on, and the pump wouldn't always start. After about 20 seconds (give or take), it would begin to run and would work fine the rest of the day. As the days went on, it began to get worse and worse. It eventually quit pumping, yet you could still hear the pump come on. Now, the pump wont come on at all. So i replace the pump thinking the motor was intermittenetly crapping out. The new motor still wouldnt come on. Now, i have a pretty good electrical troubleshooting backround, but on A/C power mainly. D/C is not my forte. In my boat I have two seperate pumps with one big livewell. The one pump is directly for freshwater only. The second pump is a combo. It has a three way valve on it. You can bring water in via the fill selector, empty or recirc the water within the well. This pump also has another two way valve down stream of it that can pump the water out. This is the pump that is not working. My boat is an older Nitro '99 Savage 896 DC. I tested the pump before installing it, and it works fine. NOW.....What i did discover is that when i turn my switch on or onto timer mode, there is no power entering or leaving the switch. BUT.....When i turn on the switch for my fill only pump, and then turn my switch for my recirc pump, they both come on. If i turn the fill only switch off, they both shut off. It never worked like this beofre and i have not done any electrical work to that area, other than replace some butt connections that were falling apart. Has anyone ever experienced this before??? Any suggestions??? Taking it to a dealer and paying $$$/hr is not an option for me. I'm trying to locate a wiring diagram for this boat, but are having no luck on the internet. I have not approached Georges yet, as everytime ive approached them in the past with issues they have been no help to me. I will try to contact Nitro directly, but figured id try yall first.

Anything helps. Thx in advance

Wolfy

If your good an AC then you'll be fine on DC. Some of the symptoms sound like a switch wearing out. I would first check that switch for good continuity. Ideally under one ohm. Wiggle the switch and see what happens to the readings. See if the readings change in different positions. Barring that there could be a bad connection like a common ground somewhere, or perhaps wires in a bundle shorted. Try moving the harness around in different areas and even release cable clamps and give the wiring and all lugs/connectors a close inspection.

Good luck with it. Cheers

I had a similar problem. It was the control switch. I found that the switch gets some oxidation on it from exposure to the moisture. If I worked the terminals on the back of the switch a bit, the oxidation would wear through and the pump would work, sometimes intermittently. I cleaned the terminals and coated them with anti-oxidation grease and problem solved.

The anti-oxidation grease is cheap and made for copper-aluminum contacts. I got mine at Home Hardware.

Don't use dielectric grease. It improves conductivity. If you get a little too much on, it will bridge between contacts and the power will bypass your switch or motor making it appear broken.

Hope this works for you.

Roblin wrote:Don't use dielectric grease. It improves conductivity.

Actually, dielectric grease is a silicone based non-conductive grease designed to seal out moisture and prevent corrosion. But I do agree, it would not be a good choice for a worn rotary switch.

Cheers

I'd jump the switch and see if it works. Then you have taken the switch and pump out of the equation. Only wires left then.

if it is still coming on and not pumping,it prolly has something jammed in the impeller,the newer motors rarely will burn out,but will run with the impeller plugged,, I've seen anywhere from hard plastic wire ties,to tons of crawfish shells, puked up by fish,jam the impeller,find the pump and remove it and inspect it,,

Hey fellas,

Thx for all the responses. So like i had mentioned above, the pump is brand new and was bench tested befor installing. I'm thinking i may have a short in the wireing somewhere. I replaced the recirc pump switch, even though it checked out okay, and the problem still exists. The only thing I have not tried yet, is replacing the fill only switch. I started tracing wires, and it is a complete mess. i'm thinking i may just run new wiring to and from the switch/pump. Now, my timer for my auto is a relay type timer that also times my fill only pump. I may try to buy another timer and have a seperate timer for each switch. I'm wondering if I'm getting a feed back through the timer. I'm also going to redo the connections, as the do look a little oxidized. Here's hoping. If anyone has anymore ideas I'm all ears.

Thx soooo much everyone.

Wolfy

You've already replaced one good component. If you could get a schematic of the timer or figure out the contacts can you test it with a meter before replacing it?
From a troubleshooting standpoint, you need to eliminate possible causes, starting with the basics.

Fishing Rod wrote:I'd jump the switch and see if it works. Then you have taken the switch and pump out of the equation. Only wires left then.

I would definitely start with renewing every contact you can anyway, as you troubleshoot components. That timer is common to the wiring and could well be suspect. Have fun with it.

Cheers

hahaha, thanks Smitty. Gonna play around with it again today and see what happens.
Will keep yall posted
Wolfy

Alright so i finally got it all figured out. Turns out i do have a fuse panel. it was tucked up under my consul behind my steering lines and all the other instrument wiring. Turns out it was a blown fuse. I found this after tracing and drawing out my own diagram. The confusing part was my red wire wasnt actually my power feed to the switch. it was a brown w/blue stripe. Thanks to the internet and the diagram that i drew out. I found that I was not getting power to the switch. Turned out the powewer I was getting on my voltmeter was backfeeding threw my timer relay. I may replace that as well as Ive heard these things are common to fail. But for now a new fuse was installed and I'm back in action. Those smallies will thank me when I go lurking for that kicker Largie late in the day!!!

Thanks for everyones input, and I hope all this helps other out in the future if they experience the same problems.

Wolfy