2002 Mercury 150 Saltwater Starting Problem
 

Plenty of juice (batteries are new, good voltage) but when I turn the key I
get a chirping-clicking noise from what sounds like the solenoid. Also, the
starter won't engage the flywheel to turn it. Is my starter gone already?
Only have about 150 hours on the boat and engine (carbureted).

Thx for any help!

BB wrote:
Plenty of juice (batteries are new, good voltage) but when I turn the key I
get a chirping-clicking noise from what sounds like the solenoid. Also, the
starter won't engage the flywheel to turn it. Is my starter gone already?
Only have about 150 hours on the boat and engine (carbureted).

Thx for any help!



Might be but it sounds like a bad connection somewhere, from the
battery to the starter or there's some corrosion on the starter's
solenoid/bendix drive setup. Make sure the starters pinion is not stuck
down you should be able to gently lift it a little with a screwdriver.
(it should have some lube on it as part of a service)

Get someone to keep try the start on your sayso while you have a good
look around (careful moving bits etc)

Does the starter even "try" to engage??? if it moves even a little then,

Feel anywhere there's a connection or joining of the big battery lines
pos. AND neg, a bad connection should feel warm (don't grab too hard
might be more than warm:-)) or

You can use even a really cheap (sub $10 these days) dig. multimeter &
check various places you can access along the way; after the bad
connection you'll notice a much bigger drop in voltage as whoever tries
the start for you each time, or

Disconnect the heavy supply & any other leads from the starter then
disconnect the battery leads, with engine disconnected & "off" use some
jumper leads pos & neg from the battery direct to the starter just to
give it a very quick hit to ensure it's OK. You may need to use a little
jumper to powerup the solenoid.



K

"K. Smith" wrote in message
...
BB wrote:
Plenty of juice (batteries are new, good voltage) but when I turn the
key I
get a chirping-clicking noise from what sounds like the solenoid. Also,
the
starter won't engage the flywheel to turn it. Is my starter gone
already?
Only have about 150 hours on the boat and engine (carbureted).

Thx for any help!



Might be but it sounds like a bad connection somewhere, from the
battery to the starter or there's some corrosion on the starter's
solenoid/bendix drive setup. Make sure the starters pinion is not stuck
down you should be able to gently lift it a little with a screwdriver.
(it should have some lube on it as part of a service)

Get someone to keep try the start on your sayso while you have a good
look around (careful moving bits etc)

Does the starter even "try" to engage??? if it moves even a little then,

Feel anywhere there's a connection or joining of the big battery lines
pos. AND neg, a bad connection should feel warm (don't grab too hard
might be more than warm:-)) or

You can use even a really cheap (sub $10 these days) dig. multimeter &
check various places you can access along the way; after the bad
connection you'll notice a much bigger drop in voltage as whoever tries
the start for you each time, or

Disconnect the heavy supply & any other leads from the starter then
disconnect the battery leads, with engine disconnected & "off" use some
jumper leads pos & neg from the battery direct to the starter just to
give it a very quick hit to ensure it's OK. You may need to use a little
jumper to powerup the solenoid.



K

Thx for the quick replies! I can move the armature upwards slightly with a
screwdriver so doesn't seem to be stuck. I found one wire connection that
wasn't seated all the way in but was unable to try and start my engine. I
will tomorrow after my lawn hose thaws out. We had 4 inches of snow here
last night in Rockport, TX, pretty much unheard of around here.
I'll post back again tomorrow.

Thx again!

"BB" wrote in message
news:1104011957.c1af1c4235e9e8e479b59584205e2049@t eranews...
Plenty of juice (batteries are new, good voltage) but when I turn the key
I
get a chirping-clicking noise from what sounds like the solenoid. Also,
the
starter won't engage the flywheel to turn it. Is my starter gone already?
Only have about 150 hours on the boat and engine (carbureted).

Thx for any help!

If you can't find the problem out just by "wiggling and jiggling" the wires,
see the below link.

http://www.prestolite.com/pgs_training/training_4.php

You'll need a VOA meter (multimeter). They are cheap, if you haven't got
one. A voltage drop test will most likely identify this problem.

"K. Smith" wrote in message
...
Disconnect the heavy supply & any other leads from the starter then
disconnect the battery leads, with engine disconnected & "off" use some
jumper leads pos & neg from the battery direct to the starter just to
give it a very quick hit to ensure it's OK. You may need to use a little
jumper to powerup the solenoid.

Did the above and the pinion jumped up right there to try and engage the
flywheel. I hope that shows my starter is still good (they are expensive).
Every place I could see to test the voltage on the solenoid and starter
connections showed good voltage. I'm guessing now I have a bad solenoid?

"BB" wrote in message
news:1104094783.aefb9bf2ddefb029c42d246440341727@t eranews...

"K. Smith" wrote in message
...
Disconnect the heavy supply & any other leads from the starter then
disconnect the battery leads, with engine disconnected & "off" use some
jumper leads pos & neg from the battery direct to the starter just to
give it a very quick hit to ensure it's OK. You may need to use a little
jumper to powerup the solenoid.

Did the above and the pinion jumped up right there to try and engage the
flywheel. I hope that shows my starter is still good (they are expensive).
Every place I could see to test the voltage on the solenoid and starter
connections showed good voltage. I'm guessing now I have a bad solenoid?


If that's the case and you said before that when you turned your key you did
get power to the solenoid, so your fuse is not gone and your safety switch
is closed, then perhaps it might be the solenoid. Just for a further "red
neck" test, put a jumper across the solenoid and see if it cranks. If not,
back to square one. You could have bad cables that are offering too much
resistance. A voltage drop test will pick that up in a hurry. But do the
"jumper" thing. A solenoid is cheap, compared to a starter.

Yeah, solenoids do wear out, but it's not all that common. I had one that
used to get stuck and would not shut off, cranking the starter continuously
until I was able to disconnect the lead. I fried the starter.

Yeah, solenoids do wear out, but it's not all that common.

I went through several in my old Merc 75.

But do the
"jumper" thing

That was the trick I did to get home ... and prove the problem.

Thanks to all! I found the problem. When I checked the voltage at the
solenoid it was 12.5. When I checked it with someone turning the key over it
dropped to under 5. I took off the battery connections and cleaned the posts
and connectors even though they all looked in great shape and she cranks
over now. Apparently, it was a bad connection at the battery.

Again, thanks to all here!!!!!!



"BB" wrote in message
news:1104011957.c1af1c4235e9e8e479b59584205e2049@t eranews...
Plenty of juice (batteries are new, good voltage) but when I turn the key
I
get a chirping-clicking noise from what sounds like the solenoid. Also,
the
starter won't engage the flywheel to turn it. Is my starter gone already?
Only have about 150 hours on the boat and engine (carbureted).

Thx for any help!