2001 Suzuki DT 140 - Stator & ECU Melted, Now What?

[John3325]

So, had the boat loaded up for tuna fishing this morning and just coming out of the Quincy river I started smelling smoke. Starboard engine Stator wires, ECU, and entire plastic protective cover completed burnt and melted.

I have no idea how this happened. My boat has two batteries, and electronics draw from either battery (no dedicated house). I was told this setup is similar to an 80s Grady white where both engines are common to both batteries that run everything. My batteries were two 1000 cranking amp rated batteries, non deep cycle. Upon recommendation, I replaced with the same size Group 24 Deep Cycle batteries since the old ones were ten years old and only holding about 11.8 volts. Test drove the boat Friday afternoon after installing and everything ran great, no smoke and no issues at all. Put it away and called it a day.

Now this morning as stated above, my starboard engine loses its stator/ECU and a whole bunch of wires. Has anyone experience anything like this with these engines? 2001 Suzuki DT 140 EFIs.

I have a spare engine with a (supposedly) good stator and ECU. I was planning on swapping the stuff over, on top of checking every electrical connection on the motor and the in the boat to the batteries. Part of the reason for my post is to see if there is something I am overlooking, and should not be chalking this up to service life of a stator and ECU. Last thing I want to do is burn up a second $2000 ECU and $550 stator while I have a spare of each.

Any insight to this dilemma is much appreciated. Thank you!

UPDATE: I decided to list the boat in case anyone is interested in taking this project on themselves. Check my ad in the FOR SALE section.

[flyingfrizzle]

Better check to make sure they are 12 volt "24 group" and not 24 volt. Is there is a chance when they were installed a wire was crossed? Two 12 volt cells can make 24 volts if they end up in series. It would suck to swap parts just to melt them also...

[John3325]

Thanks for the response flyingfrizzle,

The batteries were 12 volts and they were not wired in series.

[Ed]

Sometimes your stator and/or voltage regulator can fry itself because it is not designed to output the kind of load required to charge a deep cycle batteries Your original cranking batteries will get topped off pretty quickly by your outboard charging system but two deep cycles require more amperage over a longer time.

Also, it is possible that you had a loose wire on your charging system and this caused the resistance which caused the melt down.

Sorry this happened. I have experienced it personally and it sucks.