Help starting

Launched my ‘96 SJ701 yesterday and rode it not too far from launch to my place and messed around there a while. I was off it once or twice and so had reinserted kill switch key and restarted a couple of times no problems. I put it on the lift thinking to adjust carb a bit as this was first time on water since I did a carb rebuild. Anyway, when I went to start it again there was nothing - behaved just like the kill switch key was not plugged in.

The ballast pump runs. Note that this is first time running in water since I swapped to a new toggle switch for the ballast pump, and after stopping engine and pulling kill key at the lift I did run the ballast pump to empty the engine compartment. I mention about the ballast pump because I had run the ballast pump and subsequently briefly started the engine as test before launching, but at the lift was the first time I ran the ballast pump since the ski got wet and the engine wouldn’t start after this.

Could the change to a new ballast pump toggle switch be related? When I changed this switch I did add a fuse on the positive wire between the battery +ve post and the switch.

I tested battery with a load tester and battery looks all good.

I have a multimeter.

I am fairly new to this.

Would someone please advise a sequence of troubleshooting tests to try to debug?

Is there a fuse I should check?

Is there a way to bypass / jump the SS harness to isolate the problem as being there?

Similarly, I read somewhere else about bypassing “the relay” to see if it will turn over, but I did not understand how to do this? Is this something I should try?

Your assistance will be most appreciated!
 

WFO Speedracer

A lifetime ban is like a lifetime warranty !
Location
Alabama
You want the short version if so here goes, if the start stop switch has connectors on it then disconnect the two connectors, now get a paper clip and jump the red and brown wires together if it starts then you have start stop switch issues, if it doesn't then you open up the electrical box and jump across the two starter solenoid terminals, if it spins the starter over the solenoid is bad, if it still does nothing pull off the starter.
 
You want the short version if so here goes, if the start stop switch has connectors on it then disconnect the two connectors, now get a paper clip and jump the red and brown wires together if it starts then you have start stop switch issues, if it doesn't then you open up the electrical box and jump across the two starter solenoid terminals, if it spins the starter over the solenoid is bad, if it still does nothing pull off the starter.

Thank you very much. Relatively good news then I guess as when I jump the red and brown on the white connector the starter goes.

So I am going to have a closer look at the SS switch component.
 

WFO Speedracer

A lifetime ban is like a lifetime warranty !
Location
Alabama
the problem is most likely in your lanyard switch then , be very careful when taking it apart there are some really small contacts and springs it there that are easily lost if you are not careful. It's always preferable to take the switch off the ski and work on it on a table or workbench so you can find the parts if you happen to drop one.
 

WFO Speedracer

A lifetime ban is like a lifetime warranty !
Location
Alabama
Good news is he didn't jump the Starter Solenoid Relay with a Paper Clip o_O
it would work for about a second but he would let go of it pretty quickly.

One other thing , when you disconnect the switch you can plug the stop switch wires into the red-brown connecter, press the stop button and if its switch related it will start, the lanyard switch is a two way switch it connects the stop switch when the lanyard is pulled and it makes a connection to the start switch when the lanyard is installed.
 
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yeah, so when I went to jump the starter connector on the SS harness (white connector with red and brown wires) as per WFO Speedracer's suggestion, I figured since it was going through those SS switches that voltage wise this would only be as the battery (which was testing about 12.7V across the battery posts with all connected) and so I tested the voltage across those pins with multimeter and confirmed this. With the paper clip i did just hold it in my hands and touched across the pins long enough to hear the first kick of starter to confirm.

(btw - i hope I would have been sensible enough to have found out more about exactly how to safely go about jumping across the starter solenoid and not be sticking my fingers in there :), but i have done some dumb stuff in the past).

Based on looking at the wiring in the housing and the spring on the lanyard kill switch holder and the fact that I had kicked the starter jumping the other wires with the black connector (black and white wires) disconnected, I figured stop / kill must be closed switches to put a current on that circuit. Really just to confim this and that the stop / kill switches were probably ok, I tested for continuity at the switch side of the black connector (black and white wires) and only got the continuity when either the stop switch was pressed or the kill switch was pressed.

I then tested for continuity on the switch side of the white connector (red and brown wires) and expected not to find any but was very surprised to find that i was getting continuity when the start button was pressed. So it seemed like i was not going to need to take the SS switches apart but was a bit stumped. Figuring then that the problem had to be poor connection in the white connector (red and brown wires) itself, I gave this a bit of cleanup blew some air on both sides, checked the pins looked ok, and sprayed with some dielectric corrosion resistant thin film coating / lubricant spray stuff (Spectra Termin-8R that i discovered lately and been spraying on lots of things like trailer connectors etc. since). When i connected them back up again the thing fired right up.

So it must have been this connection all along.

Since i wasn't really expecting this to work, i had a brief moment of small panic when the stop button didn't do anything until i realized that the stop / kill circuit connector was not attached. I guess I could have connected it back up, but the entire air filter was off the top of my single 44 carb and i just choke it out by covering the top of the carb intake with the palm of my hand.

Hopefully now it is sorted. And, I learned some things.

I really appreciate the support. Thank you!
 
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WFO Speedracer

A lifetime ban is like a lifetime warranty !
Location
Alabama
Sorry I wasn't more clear on jumping the solenoid but I usually use a flat head screwdriver for this , it won't shock you but if you use a paper clip and hold it across the terminals on the solenoid it will get very hot because it is not big enough to handle that kind of amperage.
 
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