Thanks guys...I ended up taking the starter off. Turned the gear with
my hand and it "rose up" on the shaft. Sprayed it down good with
WD-40, put it back on and it worked like a charm. Sounds like might
be time for new starter though...I'd hate to have that happen to me on
the water. I'll make it a point to keep a 12mm socket and some wd-40
with me since removing the starter is very easy.

I am frustrated as all get out with this motor though. Problem with
the oil tank is still not fixed, the mechanic thought it was a bad
wire which he replaced but problem is still not fixed. Strangely
enough, it is a bit intermittent. Sometimes the remote pump shuts off
like it is supposed to and other times it just keeps running and
overflows. Not sure if that is indicative of a bad control unit or
not.

Also since getting boat out of shop, the oil indicator lights on the
guage are not working at all (they were before it went into the shop)
and the free accelleration lever is not working...again, it too was
working before going into the shop. Apparently, it was not put back
together right when the new throttle cables were installed. I am
****ed!!! Now I gotta haul the boat back again to the dealer. I will
say, that I thought I got a pretty good deal on the amount of labor I
was charged for the work I had done:

throttle cables
trim seals
oil problem
swim ladder install

total was 4 hours charged at $75 per hour. This is at a major dealer
in the area...Columbia, SC. I was very happy with that until I
discovered these problems today. Argh.

On Sun, 12 Feb 2006 18:11:54 GMT, Shortwave Sportfishing
wrote:

On Sun, 12 Feb 2006 17:44:02 GMT, "Billgran"
wrote:



"Charlie Brown" wrote in message
...
Just got my boat back from the shop for new throttle cable, trim seals
and oil tank overfilling.

I get home, want to test boat, hook up the water, turn key and all's I
get is a spinning of the starter motor.

I see that the gear of the starter motor is below the flywheel,
basically spinning free. I'm not much of a mechanic, but I can
surmise that the starter gear must somehow mesh with the flywheel to
turn the motor over. Looking at the service manual, it doesn't look
like anything complicated. Is the starter gear supposed to move up on
the shaft as it spins? I don't get it!!! I am mad as heck.



Most of the time if the starter drive gear is not rusted on the shaft, the
battery is too low or there is a connection problem with the terminals or
cables resulting in the starter not spinning over fast enough to "drive" the
gear up to engage the flywheel teeth. Check the battery charge and make sure
all the connections are clean and shiny without any corrosion or rust on
them.

Or that...

Great advice.