Bad starter '94 Johnson 60hp

imods

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Jul 22, 2012
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I have a 1994 60 horse Johnson (model J60TLERS) on a 1981 16' aluminum Smokercraft. It's been running great for the most part. Once in a while the starter won't fully engage the flywheel and makes a grinding noise, but if that happens I just align the gears by hand and it works fine. The last few times I've taken it out, it has been a pain to start. I thought it was a battery issue. I've jumped it with my truck (I know, ridiculous), and attempted to pull start it. A few weeks ago it wouldn't start for the life of me. I tried pull starting it and it got pretty close to turning over. I tried again and my brother-in-law turned the key right after I pulled it and it turned over and ran fine all 7 miles back down river to the ramp. I wanted to take it out fishing during spring break so I got everything uncovered and fully charged. Figured I better make sure it'll start before I drive all the way out to the river. It won't start. I've taken my heavy duty battery out of my truck to try starting the boat in case my 2 year old Optima was bad for some reason (which it's not) and that didn't work. I've read through some forums and watched a lot of YouTube videos, but I'm not a motor guy. So here's what I've got to work with...

-won't turn over with key
-cranks slow
-full battery
-good connection to the battery
-won't turn over with jumper cables hooked directly from battery to starter
-starter spins when given power detached from motor (sounds fast to me)
-starter is pretty dirty inside but I cleaned off the brushes and bottom of armature they contact, still won't start
-if I try to pull start it, it has good compression and almost starts
-when the motor ran, it took 3-5 seconds to turn over

I took some pictures and videos too:

https://plus.google.com/photos/10539...07551489023969

Any advise would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!
 
Last edited:

pn

Petty Officer 1st Class
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Apr 20, 2013
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374
save yourself heartache and buy a new starter
 

racerone

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Dec 28, 2013
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That motor certainly does not look like a 1994 model !!!---More like an 88 / 89 model to me.----Post the model # here.
 

Chinewalker

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Motor looks like 1994 - the hood does not. Motor has the FasTrac style power trim unit, not used on 1980s models. Also has the cast flywheel, not the older aluminum style.

I couldn't see in the video, but when you were jumping to the starter on the motor, where was the ground jumper? Might be a bad ground, if you were relying on the hard wired ground cable. If not, then I would concur that the starter motor is likely on the outs. Brushes look good, so the armature may have gotten warm at some point and lost some of its "smoke".
 

racerone

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Take an ohm reading from commutator to the shaft.---Should read infinity.
 

gm280

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Jun 26, 2011
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The commutator that the brushes ride on could use a good cleaning up that's for sure. I would certainly remove and clean the positive AND ground wires and clean those connection bright and shiny and reattach them and try it before buying a new starter. But that is just me.
 

boobie

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The only way to properly check an armature is with a growler. Take the armature to a rebuild shop and have them check it.
 

racerone

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Dec 28, 2013
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Ohm check can be done in seconds with most common meters.----Finds bad armatures everytime.-----New armatures can be had for about $60
 

boobie

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The ohmmeter won't tell you if the commutator wires are shorted out where the growler will.
 

imods

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Jul 22, 2012
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That motor certainly does not look like a 1994 model !!!---More like an 88 / 89 model to me.----Post the model # here.


racerone, the model number is in my first post. It's J60TLERS, it's a '94. Might not be the original hood like Chinewalker said. I've only had it a few years.

Chinewalker, that video was actually the first time it had done that without the negative being on one of the bolts that hold the starter in place. It was sitting in the splashwell (aluminum) and I was going to get the positive on and then the negative. However, as soon as I hooked up the positive is started spinning so I went with it.

gm280, I'll give them a good cleaning and see it that helps.

I'll see if I can get it into a shop with a growler next week, in the meantime I'll try an ohm reading to see what I get.

Thanks for all your help, I'll you up to date.
 

imods

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Jul 22, 2012
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11
Well a new starter did the trick! Put it in last week and the boat starts and runs great now. Now on to get the steering loosened up and working better.

Thanks again for all the advice!
 
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