Moomba Ballast wont empty

I just bought a 2003 LSV and I am having trouble with the rear ballast tanks. The center ballast fills and empties fine. The two rear tanks fill perfectly but they will not empty. The pumps dont seem to come on when I hit the empty toggle switch. The manual says a fuse could be blown but how would they fill if a fuse was blown? And, I haven't found a fuse box as yet. Any suggestions??

the fuses are often inline right off the back of the switches. maybe bad pumps who knows. get to the pumps and check to see if you have power and ground with a test light.

I have power to the pumps, I have checked them with a tester. The pumps fill fine, they just wont empty.

Do you have power to the pumps in both directions?
We had a pump that in the beginning worked fine, after a while it stopped filling and would only empty. Found that it only had about 6v filling and the full 12v emptying. (It doesn't do either now cause I still haven't fixed the crappy wiring and we still have a ram fill system anyway)

Hmm....thats a good question. I checked the wires coming off of the pump for power and had the correct voltage. Im not sure where else to check for voltage when you say "power both ways."

Fuses are under the dash. If i remember right.

Yeah, I looked under the dash but I have only found the wiring harnesses. Perhaps the fuse box is hiding behind the giant sub-woofer I have under there.

I had the same problem, turned out I had rocks in the pump that i had sucked up. Although i cant remember if it filled or not.

I read in the manual that its possible that debris could get into the pumps and stop it from filling or draining but I haven't checked those problems yet. I will definitely look into that issue.

Thanks everyone!

sounds like you may be looking at the wrong pump, Moomba uses 2 pumps. You have a fill pump and an empty pump. Obviously, you need to check the empty pump. If it is bad, they are cheap and easy to replace. You can get the 800gph Tsunami for $25.

^^^^ Moomba , I believe has one fill and three separate drain pumps. thsoe pumps go out from time to time, like mentioned above they are very cheap to replace.

Sorry dude, I wasn't too clear on that eh?

Basically the "direction" (I'm not sure what a sparkie might call it, current maybe) swaps over from filling to draining (at least on our pump it does) to make the motor go the other way, so if your pump is filling and you're seeing 12 volts switching it the other way should show -12 volts, unless you swap the probes on the tester over too.

(Message edited by jtnz on April 21, 2008)

Ill check the voltage both ways, I think I only checked it on "Fill" so hopefully that will isolate the problem. I do have 3 pumps, one in the center and two under the engine. The one in the middle ballast works fine, kicks on when filling and kicks on when emptying.

UPDATE-------

I checked the voltage on both my "empty" pumps today and they read 12-13 volts. I checked all of the hoses for trash and debris and didnt find anything. The lines are clear. I removed both pumps, hooked them up to a battery and they pump exactly the way they are supposed to, with plenty of force. When I place the pumps back on my boat in the ballast system they almost drop to no pumping power at all. The pumps have the proper voltage so I ruled out a fuse or pump problem.

Anyone have any other suggestions?? Just looking for some help to get this problem worked out before I hit the water.

Thanks

Email Rick Tinker, he listed his email address on this link
http://www.wakeworld.com/MB/Discus/messages/3183/572268.html?1209341308

ANAL dine - Im calling you out on this. Instead of offering help to Jason you tell him to email the CEO? ie: Windows is locking up so we should all email Bill Gates? Your advice is stupid and you are just trying to stir up crap.

Jason - You have 4 pumps on this system. 1 large fill pump and 3 empty pumps (one on each bag). I have lost the 2 empty pumps due to freezing. Impeller damage and/or cracked impeller housing. Take the pump out and disassemble impeller to see if there is any trash or damage. Also see if it will actually pump water. I hopes this helps

It could still be a pump or wiring problem. Just because you're still reading proper voltage doesn't mean that the wiring/pump is carrying the proper load. That would explain why it doesn't have any pumping power when it's installed. It doesn't have enough power to move the water.

Jason;

First things First. what happens more than often is your bags will slide when full and pinch the hose on the drain line. More than likely if you have checked the pump it self and it is working then your getting a kink in the line somewhere.

Yeah....I didn't email Rick Tinker about a problem with a boat that is out of warranty. I am a bit sharper than that to bother him with this issue.

I have the proper voltage to the pumps and the pumps worked absolutely perfect when I took them out of the boat. That leads me to believe that what Stroup said could be the issue, a wiring problem and the pumps not carrying the proper load when installed. Im not sure where the wiring could be an issue however because the power comes straight from the battery to the toggle switch and then to the pumps.

All the lines are clear, no kinks or trash anywhere in the system.

Have you tried to manually prime the pump? In my old Supra I had to sometimes pull the hose off the pump and get the water flowing and stick it back on the pump. The empty lines can sometimes get air locked.

or just stand on the sack with the pump on. that works for mine if it gets an airlock. had it happen twice since i but the 750's in the back.

I had the same problem, and I ended up taking it to the dealer. The dealer found and fixed the problem in two minutes. The issue for me was a loose wire under the dash. The service tech just tightened up the nut holding the wire, and problem fixed.

flip fill when going at 7mph or quicker if they continue to not work. to drain, push down on them like DC said

UPDATE NO. 2

I believe I have isolated the problem to the switches in my panel. When I turn the switch on to power the pump I only get 9 volts through them. I can jump the power wire to the wire going back to the pump and it works like a charm. Seems like I some bad switches.

Now, does anyone know where I can order some switches online? I have looked and cant seem to find what I am looking for.}

Great work Jason! sounds right. Do you have any blank switches you can swap just to get you going. I dont know if you have to get from dealer or not either way call a few and see if they will drop ship to you. Im not any good on the online store - just dont know.

No, I dont have any blank switches but I did find these on ebay:



I could do without the lettering but they seem to be a good price.