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Posts: 797
Location: North Central IL USA |
The starter on my ‘91 70HP Johnson barley turns over. It’s acting like the battery is near dead but that’s not the case. The cranking battery is fully charged. My experience with bad starters is that they simply won’t engage at all. Is this yet another symptom of a bad starter or is there another component in line that could be malfunctioning?
This happened a week ago Thursday while on my fishing trip. The engine had been starting fine the whole week until then.
Thanks! |
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Posts: 2754
Location: Mauston, Wisconsin | Greg, A couple possibilities besides a bad starter.
1. Bad battery - "Fully charged" is really not a good quantifier as to wether the battery is good or bad. An easy way to eliminate the starter as the problem is to use a known good battery and a set of jumper cables.
2. Bad connections - A whole lot of car batteries are replaced here in the midwest during winter, a good battery terminal cleaning would probably have fixed a lot of them, especially on older cars. I would first suspect a bad connection at the battery or the starter or in between, and I would check these first. Its also good to clean & reasemble all battery connections at least once a year (But, leave the battery negative lead off until you're finished- safety). Boats are great places for corrosion of electrical connections. Yours is 20 years old. Start at the battery and work your way to the starter.
3. Starter Solenoid - Sometimes they are built into the starter - but my 1989 Johnson 150 has a separate solenoid. The solenoid connects the battery to the starter when you turn the key to start. Burnt solenoid contacts could also give you similar symptom's.
Good luck!
Al
Edited by ESOX Maniac 6/19/2011 6:30 PM
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Posts: 80
| This happened to me last year after my boat sat for a while. I had a good battery and the starter wouldn't engage. Took the starter off, pulled it apart and it was full of rust and corrosion. Cleaned it up with a wire brush and it was like new! |
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Posts: 403
Location: WI | Have you had the battery load tested? I went through the same thing 6 yrs ago. Battery charger showed full charge, starter turned but wouldn't egage. After rebuilding the starter & replacing the solenoid, I had the battery tested. 1 bad cell in the battery was the culprit, alot of time & spent $ for nothing. got a new battery & all was fine. |
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Posts: 706
Location: Richland Center, WI. | I would start with the battery connections. Make sure they are clean and tight then move to the connections at the starter. The starter is probably grounded where it attaches to the motor so make sure that area is clean also. If the cleaning does not work, take the starting battery in and have it load tested. If you jump the connections at the solenoid, thus bypassing the solenoid, and it now starts normally, problem is the solenoid. If these things don't help, time to get into the starter I would guess.
Good Luck!
Ken |
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Posts: 797
Location: North Central IL USA | Thanks for the replies! I already checked and cleaned all the connections. Sounds like the next logical step is to get the battery load tested. |
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Posts: 358
Location: London, England | Don't bother getting your battery tested, just use one of your trolling motor batteries in place of the starter battery. If the engine starts up, you need a new starter battery. |
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Posts: 797
Location: North Central IL USA | Well I tried a known good battery last night and got the same symptoms. This time I got some smoke out of the starter or solenoid?
This is what I’m looking at.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v224/K-9MAN/Misc/001.jpg
The solenoid is the thing just to the right of the starter, correct?
The starter gear seems to be stuck - engaged with the flywheel. The fact that I got smoke and it smelled like wires melting…would that indicate that the solenoid if fried and maybe that’s been the problem all along and not the starter. I was gonna pull the starter this morning but thought I’d wait and see what you all thought?
Also, the ignition switch makes a weird buzzing noise when I'm attempting to turn over the engine.
Edited by gregk9 7/10/2011 10:17 AM
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Posts: 208
Location: Sun Prairie, WI | I would try replaceing the solinoid first. That should be it just to the right of the starter. The fact that the gears are still engaged shouldn't be and issue. My 75hp mariner does the same thing if it doesnt start the gears stay engaged. when the engine starts it will kick the starter gear back down. |
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Posts: 32934
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | It could be an issue if the flywheel won't turn. Can you manually turn the flywheel (battery disconnected) at all, or is it impossible to get to move? |
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Posts: 797
Location: North Central IL USA | sworrall - 7/10/2011 4:54 PM
It could be an issue if the flywheel won't turn. Can you manually turn the flywheel (battery disconnected) at all, or is it impossible to get to move?
Should I be able to do this even though the starter's flywheel ring gear is engaged with the engine's flywheel? |
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Posts: 208
Location: Sun Prairie, WI | Yes you should be able to turn the motor if the gears are still engaged as long as the starter motor didn't totally lock up. You should be able to (nicley!!!!) tap the gear on the starter back down. |
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