Ignition short? help

HELP! I was trying to do a good thing last night to my '98 SuperSport, but have apparently done a bad thing. A friend recommended spraying a product called Corrosion Block all over my engine and engine mounts to stop corrosion. He used it successfully on his Moomba and later a SAN. So last night I sprayed it all over, top, sides, front, back. I didn't specifically target any electrical components or wires, but I know it got on them. Knowing this, I purposely wasn't going to even put the key in the ignition for a couple days to let everything dry out.

So after I sprayed it on, I cleaned the seats, upholstery, and dash with Fantastik, and then sprayed 303 on.

Everything was fine when I went to bed last night. I probably left the ignition button/breaker pressed in last night, but the key was never put in the ignition yesterday, last night, or this morning. But this morning as I walked past it in the garage on my way to work, ALL THE DASH LIGHTS WERE ON!!!

This is only supposed to be possible when the ignition button/breaker on the dash is pushed in AND the key is in and turned to the first position. I freaked a little but didn't have time to troubleshoot it because I was late for work. I had previously installed a second battery and Perko switch, so I just switched that to OFF which killed the dash lights and went to work. I called my wife a few minutes ago and had her get in the boat, push the ignition button in and then out again (off), and then turn the Perko switch to 1 (still with the key not even in the ignition). The dash lights came on again, so I had her turn the Perko back to Off.

What should I do??

I assume that you only sprayed the engine with this stuff and not up under the dash or similar places.

I looked up Corrosion Block on the internet and it claims it is safe to spray on electronics. Did you do anything else last night when you were applying this stuff? You didn't mess with the starter relay did you?

If the problem is actually being caused by the application of the spray then I would recommend that you clean it off of any electrical components. One obvious area to focus on would be the starter relay. This relay will have two large posts and one or two small posts.

One large post connects to the battery, the second post connects to the starter motor.

One of the small posts connects to the starter switch. The second small post connects to the ignition system and is used to bypass the ballast resistor so that the coil gets more voltage during cranking.

If the Corrosion Block created a short between the battery connection and the ignition connection then it would do what you describe: turn on the ignition lights.

I would expect this to be a fairly low grade short, perhaps able to supply enough current for the LEDs but not much more. If you have some equipment that is only on when the ignition is on try turning it on and seeing if it causes the short to clear up.

If you think that the corrosion block is creating the short then I would use a mild solvent to try and remove it. WD40 would work well in this application.

Rod

Thanks Rod. Good info. I did only spray it on the engine. I'm really leaning toward no problem with anything around the dash. I checked the button breakers on the dash and they are good. Something seems to be shorted back at the engine, and I think you must be right that it is in the starter relay.

I am guessing it is the Corrosion Block that is causing it. It makes since that there was no problem up to an hour after I sprayed it on the engine, but overnight enough of it may have dripped down into the starter relay (mounted with the posts pointing down). A thin layer of liquid could be pooled inside the starter relay shorting some of the posts. Everything else on the boat seems to be working normally.

I'm cleaning up what I can see and charging the main battery up tonight and will take it down to the water in the morning and start it up on the trailer and let it run for a while. It's about a 25 minute drive so maybe that will dry things out or dissipate the liquid. This stuff is not evaporating.

Thanks again Rod. I'll let you know how it goes.

Not good. I pulled the boat down to the boat ramp this morning, turned on the Perko switch, same thing - just like turning the ignition key to the first position, without the key or ignition breaker button being pushed in. The ignition breaker button light even comes on, along with the fuel gauge, perfect pass, and depth finder. When I put the key in I can start it with the key without even having to push in the ignition breaker button, which isn't supposed to happen.

The boat started right up on the trailer, came right up to 160 degrees and held steady, no warning lights, idled fine at 700RPM. The only other thing that doesn't work as usual, when I turn on either the anchor light breaker button or the navigation light breaker button, it turns both of those lights on at the same time which didn't use to happen.

I let the engine idle for 5-10 minutes and could see some Corrosion Block smoking off the engine as it heated up and it eventually stopped smoking. Then I turned the key off and the engine kept running!!! DOH!! I freaked. I couldn't think of anything else to do (forgot the kill lanyard!) so I turned off the Perko switch which killed the engine. I know this is a big NO-NO and may have fried my alternator.

I think this problem is beyond my trouble-shooting abilities, especially because the starter relay on this CC v-drive is buried under a mountain of cables and brackets. I can't even see how I would get to the terminals with a wrench. So I guess I'll be towing her to SECC Monday morning unless anyone has any other ideas.

Just a followup, Rod was right, it was the starter relay that went bad, and was somehow feeding a small current back through the ignition circuit. And as usual, SECC provided great service. They troubleshot it, swapped the relay, tested the alternator, and even water tested the boat to make sure there weren't any other problems. I turned it in Monday morning and had it back Friday afternoon. And had a great weekend of riding. Thanks Rod and SECC.