DF 90 will crank but won't fire, No power to tilt trim on remote or engine controls

[Bbambo]

Very new to the forum. I have been around but usually just read to fix my issues. I am stumped now though.

I have been reading about White Wire problems and this could be that but it doesn't seem the same.

Long story short I have a 2012 DF-90 on a pontoon that has recently been giving issues. Over the last few months the motor started skipping intermittently. Sometimes at higher rpms and sometimes at idle. When it misses at idle it is sometimes enough for the motor to stop running and sometimes it catches itself and stays running but you feel the bump from the miss. The last time out it cut off at idle, I fished for a while and then tried to restart. The motor gave a longer than normal beep before starting and then just cranked with no fire. All of the gauges are working. I messed with the shifter some to see if the neutral safety switch was stuck but nothing. During this time the tilt/trim switch on the remote and motor does not work at all. Key off or on nothing. All of a sudden I tried again and the beep was normal and the motor started like it is supposed to. Ran it up to around 4500 rpm and it ran great all the way back to the dock. When I pulled up to the dock it died at idle. I had to hand winch it onto the trailer and it is now "stuck" in the no power to switches, non running mode.

I have to tell you that this motor was a transplant from a previous 90 hp yamaha that was originally on the boat. The controls are still yamaha controls but I have the ignition, gauges, and kill switch from the suzuki. It has worked with this setup for over two year flawlessly before this problem.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Moonlighter]

See the “White wire” sticky thread in the top section of this forum. Your problem almost certainly is a faulty white wire connection.

[Bbambo]

I know this topic has been exhausted and you are probably tired of answering questions about it.

I have read that sticky a few times even before posting. It does sound similar however the tilt trim buttons on my motor do not work either.

I checked the boat yesterday evening and everything is working perfect all of a sudden. Either way I want to check this white wire but I do not see it anywhere. It is not attached to the battery or the positive cable to the starter. The starter has the large gauge battery cable and another appr. 12 or 10 gauge red wire. Should I be looking for this wire at the console? I understand that the white wire goes to the key switch and then when the key is turned on it powers a gray wire. In a perfect world where should this white wire be that I can see? It is no where to be found under the motor cover.

[artdf175]

can I make the assumption you have a battery switch?
take a look on the back of the switch and see what also connects to the terminal that goes to the engine. Is there a single wire that is also connected to that terminal?
there maybe a short wire that the WW is spliced into it.

The WW also has a built in fuse. start looking for the WW at the remote where the wire bundle feeds back to the engine as stated in the last part of my sticky for smaller HP engines - the power feed to the ECM comes off the starter power. can only guess the red wire you mention is the power source for the ECM.
Art

[Bbambo]

I do not have a switch. The main cables to the motor are directly wired to the battery. The only other wires to that battery are for my depth finder.

I traced some of the wires yesterday. The white wire does come out of the back of the ignition switch. It is about 4 inches long and then spliced to another white wire. The splice looks to be together well. It has heat shrink and no visible damage. I did not strip the heat shrink to look at the connection because it looks perfect. These two white wires go in the main harness sheathing that goes to the motor.

At the motor the main harness comes in at the front to a large gray plug. I can see one of the white wires going into the plug but no white wires come out. I do see a gray wire in the mix coming out to the motor which I assume is like you say in your sticky. I do not know what happens to the other white wire in the harness. I cannot find any visible inline fuse and there is nothing connected to the battery. Do you think the fuse could be in the main harness somewhere?

This problem seems to show itself when the engine warms up. Would this make any sense or do you think its a coincidence?

I cannot recall where the red wire from the starter went to. I will check it again this afternoon and let you know where.

Thank you for your time with this. I really appreciate it.

[Moonlighter]

Some dealers attached the white wire to the + post on the starter motor. Bad practice that almost always leads to problems. Check there.