Strbd motor would not shut down and gauges/key switch not working

[Valhalla]

Gents - after a marathon 20 hr trip to the gulfstream and back we arrived back at the dock only to discover the strbd. motor would not shut down by the key switch. Today we went back down after some rest to examine the rear of the Volvo instrument panel. Took the wiring harness apart and hit it with corrosion block. Still no dice. Opened the engine hatch and checked the breakers - all appeared well. Hit the parallel switch from the port motor and still nothing. I could hear the switch clicking when I turned the key but no power came to the gauges or hour meter. Is there something simple I am missing or do I need a new gauge/ignition assembly? (by the way we took second in the tourney we fished in against the outboard crews with 3 Wahoo, 7 Dolphin and a tuna)

[Captain Spike]

I have the same motors. The same happened to me one time and it was caused by the breaker on the black box on top of the motor tripping, I reset it and everything was fine.

[Valhalla]

Where is the breaker?

Capt. Spike...Is the breaker attached to the motor? I checked the breakers in the the box that is bolted to the rear bulkhead of the engine compartment. (two say 50 and one says 120 I think and they are circular and red)

[missprint]

this happened to me and it took about 20 hours of a marine tech to finialy to figure out that the wires coming from the tower were chaffed and were grounding on the tower which would not the switch work. if you dont have a tower then this is obviously not your problem but wanted to make sure you didnt spend the same amout of money chasing the same problem.

[Captain Spike]

Capt. Spike...Is the breaker attached to the motor? I checked the breakers in the the box that is bolted to the rear bulkhead of the engine compartment. (two say 50 and one says 120 I think and they are circular and red)

Yes they are on top of each motor. Black plastic units about 6 inches x 5 inches x 2 or 3 inches high (from memory). They have a little trip switch on each one facing towards the stern, one of these had tripped.

[Captain Spike]

Capt. Spike...Is the breaker attached to the motor? I checked the breakers in the the box that is bolted to the rear bulkhead of the engine compartment. (two say 50 and one says 120 I think and they are circular and red)

Sorry that my computer drawing effort looks like it was done by Homer Simpson but it should show you where the switch is anyway!

[Petty Cash]

Same thing happenned to me on my 2nd offshore trip last year. At 5am as soon as I broke the inlet I looked down and my gauges were'nt working. Slowed down and tried to shut down the engine and that wouldnt work. This was my 2nd time I ever used the boat so I was clueless. I opened the hatch so to look good to my crew nothing. I took the boat back to the dock opened the hatch again saw the pin like reset button pushed it in went back to the helm and turned off the engine. My buddy looked at me and said "why didn't you do that out there" I said do you want to go to the canyon. It was now 8am everyone said yes so off we went.

[Valhalla]

It was the breaker

Thanks guys (particularly for the illustration - words hard - pictures easy) It was in fact the breaker switch.

[Valhalla]

Update on breaker tripping

The root cause of this problem was faulty installation of the supercharger clutch that caused a short between the Supercharger Clutch and the Breaker Box. (wiring pinched) The mechanic came down, removed everything, found the problem and had no more issues.

[Bullish]

Just curious. How did you shut the engine down if the key wouldn't turn it off?

[Valhalla]

Shut Down

On the Racor filter there is a valve to control fuel flow from the tank(on/off). I turned the valve off and the motor shut down after about 5 mins. Then I opened the valve, pumped the racor back up, which also pressurized the fuel system, and it fired up instantly when the mechanic was finished.
A nifty trick if you ever get air in the line. That pump on the racor housing will prime at 40 psi.

[Petty Cash]

It happened again

Came down on a wave hard the other day and the breaker tripped on the starboard engine. Lifted the hatch pushed the pin in and started the engine. Tried to start the port, no go, the green light on the pad was flashing. Played with the gear controls maybe out of neutral, nothing. Lifted the console tapped on the ignition switch, tried again, 2 solid green lights. Started the port but nothing on the starboard. Lifted the hatch the breaker on the starboard had tripped again. Pushed that back in got both engines started off we go. I must have a short in the wiring in the console. Going back to the boat to see if I can find anything. Any suggestions were to look first.