No power at the helm, remote trim not working, no power to Key switch

[Gulftest52]

White wire fuses

I had a separate fuse holder, identical to the white one on the front of the DF225 that came directly off the battery selector box at the stern, with 2 white wires going fwd to the helm out of the fuse holder.

The 15 amp fuse in this holder was blown. I only saw this because it was the same as the white fuse holder on the engine. Don't know if this is normal wiring. This is a repower on my Aquasport 215.

[artdf175]

so the question is: did that fix your problem?
I am guessing they ran a second white wire to power the dash and electronics and left the first white wire (which also should have an inline fuse) to power the starter key, neutral switch, and in turn supplies power back to the engine.
Art

[ChrisKruse86]

I have received over a dozen emails and comments from various sites after I had my loss of power problem and thought I would post a summary so you don't have to read the entire string in my other post. This post covers Suzuki outboards that have lost power from the remote at the helm to the engine.

Symptoms include:
Nothing happens when you turn on the key switch (or gauges function but engine won't crank)
Remote trim switch doesn't work but engine trim switch works
Other electrical devices seem to work fine
Trim or engine crank starts to function and everything goes dead.

Everything stated below is how my boat is set up; yours could be different. I have the 2008 DF225 but this problem and setup is used over various years and hp ranges. Click on the pictures to enlarge them.

What is the white wire? The white wire(s) is the source of power for the circuit that energizes the binnacle, gauges and provides power back to the engine from the key switch and tilt switch.

The first picture is the main engine harness (circled). It is under the starter on the starboard side of the engine. If you look between the brown and pink wire, you can see the white wire. The wiring harness exits through the front of the engine as one harness (black and roughly 5/8" in diameter). It runs under the floor and surfaces under the helm. In my case, it surfaces as two harnesses, roughly 3/8" in diameter each. Basically the harness is split under the floor and some wires go to the binnacle while others go to the gauges.

All the wires in the harness are routed to either the gauges or the binnacle, except for the white wire. It is split and one goes to the binnacle and the other to the gauges (I think) or to a power source. It could go to the gauges, then a power source but after finding the issue I stopped tracing wires. This can be seen in picture two, also circled. You can see the two white wires between my fingers that go to the helm. The connector that you see is the white wire that comes from the engine, via the main wiring harness that we talked about above.

Of course, the problem was obvious once I pulled the harness into the helm. I had 8' of slack at the stern and pulled that into the helm, exposing the poorly connected white wires. You can see the oxidized copper in the picture. No attempt was made to seal this connection by whoever installed the harness and the location under the floor stays pretty wet.

In summary:

If your tilt does not work at the helm AND the engine will not turn over (Other electrical devices probably still work fine), try the tilt on the engine.

If the engine tilts with the switch at the engine, you have either blown a fuse on front of the engine or you have a bad white wire connection.

Check the fuses on front of the engine (there are 2), if they are good, investigate the white wire. Check for voltage at the engine and at the helm. If you look at picture three, you see a male barrel type terminal that is covered with clear plastic (circled). This is a test point for the white wire at the engine. I hooked my meter up to this connector when I was troubleshooting the circuit. You will probably see low or no voltage.

If it looks like your cable splits under the floor, pull the cable to the nearest end and check the white wire connections listed above.

If you find it is the connection, trim the wires back to good copper (this could be 6" or more) and reconnect the wires. Test the tilt from the helm. If it works, seal the connection. If you have enough slack to leave the connection under the helm instead of under the floor, leave it under the helm.

I hope this helps. It took me some time to find the problem but once found, the fix took just a few minutes.

Hi, my name is Chris, i'm from down here in South Texas,Freeport area, i have a 2010 Bluewave 1902 evolution with a 2010 DF 115 Suzuki 4 Stroke, i am having same problems you have or had , i put key in the ignition and absolutely nothing happens, no alarm,no gauges moving nothing, and my trim button on throttle doesn't work either , but everything else in my boat works great! Traced down the white wire and cant find anything wrong with it. Any advise will be much appreciated!

[artdf175]

Did you find the inline fuse ?
With no power to the helm I would start at the connection at the battery end, which is where I had a problem
Off my battery switch the is a short pigtail the the white wire connects
The wire connector was holding the two ends together with the wires completely corroded out
My wire next terminates under the dash and then to the ignition key
Check to see that a connector hasn't come loose
Another issue is checking ground wires

Art

[nibble]

Just joined, first post and I dig up this old thread because I'm faced with this dilemma right now. I'm not a mechanic and even less electrically gifted, so I'm at the mercy of a shop. Took my boat to a shop this morning and they couldn't find the cause of my problem so I'm searching the net for an answer and came across this old thread........take a breath.
The local Suzuki dealer is an hour away and when I called them today they said there's about a 3 week wait to get my boat in to be serviced.
So, any one here near Raleigh NC that knows how to fix this problem? I'm VERY willing to pay, cash !
I'm even willing to tow it 2 or 3 hours away to someone knowledgable ,,,,anyone?

[artdf175]

Nibble
Start a new post tell us what year and engine you have and as much information you can about the problem you are experiencing
Art

[Solarman]

Nibble, if you can't find anyone electrically inclined to help you track down your problem. I'm located southern most point of s.c., if you're willing to go this far.

You can private message me if needed.

Good luck.

[nibble]

Nibble, if you can't find anyone electrically inclined to help you track down your problem. I'm located southern most point of s.c., if you're willing to go this far.

You can private message me if needed.

Good luck.

Thanks Solar,,,,,I'm going to start a new thread as suggested above and also give it a try myself this weekend. I appreciate the offer and believe me, that's not too far for a man to travel to get his boat fixed when desperate !!!

[Solarman]

And i hear you. You can get a 12 volt test light, or volt meter at auto parts store. Along with a couple alligator clamp test leads, find the negative & positive connections (will light the test light, or give volts on the volt meter.

Good luck.

[Sholcomb72]

I was having these exact symptoms so I followed the above and found a 20amp fuse blown in the "white wire" just a few inches from the battery selector switch where it originates. I also took for granted that my Pro Mariner onboard charger was keeping my batteries ship shape but I found them both to fail a load test. Forums like this have saved me a lot of time and expense especially if I had to take it to the dealer. Thanks to all that contribute.

[Jambo2]

Same problem here
When you turn the key nothing at all, no engine gauges or beeps. Power tilt switch on throttle has no power.
When the master switch is turned on the other gauges and lights work but still no power at the key switch or throttle tilt.
Tilt at the engine works fine!
We did find that if you held down the engine tilt switch button and the throttle tilt button simultaneously while turning the key, the engine would start. The engine would run until one of the switches was released.
This Suzuki 50 4 stroke engine is 2 years old with about 20 hours

[Jambo2]

My white wire is a yellow and red wire and it turned out to be a poor connection under the dash. All fixed and ready to go. Thanks for the help!