1968 johnson 55hp won't start

[Joe-jo]

1968 johnson 55hp won't start. All I hear is a clicking in the bottom of motor.
I turn the key and nothing happens. keep in mind this is my first boat and I'm illiterate when it comes to boat motors.

 

[JB]

Re: 1968 johnson 55hp won't start

Hello, Joe

Welcome to iboats.

Take the battery cables off at both ends. Clean them thoroughly and reattach.

Let us know what happens.

 

[Theoutdoorsman]

Re: 1968 johnson 55hp won't start

I second the "welcome to Iboats".....
Man, have you ever come to the right place for help!!! If JB can't get you up and running, you probably don't have a motor..... ;-)

 

[Joe-jo]

Re: 1968 johnson 55hp won't start

Thanks for the welcome fellas. The thing is that I'm using a car battery and I'm just holding the cables to the terminals. It could be that its not getting a good connection. I don't know I might have hooked the ignition switch up wrong. When the key is in the run position and I touched the cables to the battery is when I hurd the click in the lower region of the motor, but when I turned it to start nothing happens. I also took a jumper wire from the positive terminal and touched the solinoid and the starter and nothing happened, any ideas?

 

[gunit1400]

Re: 1968 johnson 55hp won't start

Is it an electric shift?

 

[Joe-jo]

Re: 1968 johnson 55hp won't start

yes electric shift. Also I just hooked a test light to the solinoid, there is power going in, just none coming out to the starter. Also I hooked a jumper wire to the starter and it engaged and turned the motor a half a turn and the stopped and hummed like it wasn't getting enough power. I was using a 16 gauge wire.

 

[gunit1400]

Re: 1968 johnson 55hp won't start

#1 make sure that it is in neutral, and that it knows it's in neutral. there are a lot of small wires in that wire harness, and being 40+ years old it could very easily have a break/cut/worn spot that could affecting it. When you said it makes a thud in the lower unit when you connect it to a battery, it makes me think that it may be in gear.....just a thought. My first outboard was a 1969 Evinrude 55 hp electric shift, and one of the first things I did was a lot of wiring and re-wiring...but it was worth it when I knew it would do what I wanted it to, when I wanted it to.