After realizing the chafing was not the cause of the problems I carefully cut away the heat shrink. What it revealed was no surprise. A failed solder joint...


Clearly a DIY spliced this here, and this is EXACTLY why ABYC E-11 states: "Solder shall not be the sole means of mechanical connection in any circuit.”


For Christ sake this was a 6" piece of black wire with two ring terminals this did not require a soldered splice!


Note: The original factory neg jumper, from Westerbeke, uses a soldered resistor in this wire, a freaking DUMB idea, and NO this does not meet ABYC standards, for obvious reasons. Wire this resistor path via a small terminal strip NOT solder...


Who ever soldered this removed the original resistor, it was not there, also swapped out the solenoid for the wrong type thus causing other issues. Fixing this properly, the first time, would have costs nothing compared to the needless trouble shooting and parts swapping. Why some folks, and engine manufacturers, insist on Rube Goldberging everything they touch is beyond me.


My blood freaking boils when I see $hit like this, especially when done by an engine manufacturer. The resulting outcome & expense for the current boat owner is simply insane.. What else did the previous owner of this boat Rube up that will rear its ugly head on the current owner...???? I am certain there will be more.... Arghhhhh....


Despite a heavy layer of thick heat shrink over this soldered splice, the soldered splice STILL fractured due to the solder creating a hard spot in the wire. Apparently the heat shrink was enough to pass the coils low current for a period of time, after the solenoids were replaced and the wires freshly jiggled. Eventually the cracked splice opened enough and once again would fail to pass current. To the previous techs, taking the owners money, replacing the solenoid was the answer, and it worked, for perhaps an hour.....


EDIT: FWIW I have now had two more of this same exact type of issue with Westerbeke motors. In both cases the the solder joint cracked/failed.

If proper trouble shooting practices had been employed to begin with, when this first happened, this owner could have saved close to four figures.... Ouch!


Unfortunately this went on like this for years and because the previous owner had "spray painted" much of the engine this wire looked "factory" untouched. A closer inspection revealed a thick area of heat shrink, in the middle, hiding the Rube-ness inside.


We had two factory crimped terminals that still pass current just fine on either end of this same wire. We had ONE solder splice that failed and caused an owner to spend close to $1000.00 over the years sorting this BS out..


I will say this yet again, if you don't know how to solder, DON'T..!! Oh and always use good trouble shooting practices.