1985 Mercury 18XD Run without Starter?

[orangeTANG]

I have a 1985 Mercury 18XD with electric start. I've finally had the time to pull my boat out of storage and I started to work towards getting it up and running. I went to use the starter and I got nothing but a pile of smoke pouring out of the motor and a strong plastic burning smell. I had to quickly disconnect the battery, which was tough to do because the wires and everything were heating up quickly.

The smoke and burning smell was the plastic covering on the wire between the starter solenoid & starter melting. I'm going to assume that I have a problem with either the starter solenoid or the starter itself. The screw on the bottom of the starter is loose between it and the starter casing and cannot be tightened, not sure if that is the problem or not.

Now my question:

Can I remove the starter from the motor and continue to use the motor without further damage? Do I need to keep the battery hooked up so I don't cause damage to the charging system. Do I have to do anything with the starter solenoid?

I've found some starters & solenoids on eBay for $70 & $20 each, but they will take some time to get to me, so I'm looking for a temporary alternative. I don't mind pulling a bit if it means I can use the boat.

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Barnacle_Bill]

Re: 1985 Mercury 18XD Run without Starter?

Your charging system's rectifier is most likely already damaged due to the short.

 

[orangeTANG]

Re: 1985 Mercury 18XD Run without Starter?

Good point, although I guess I won't know until I have it running. Any idea whether I can run the boat without the starter installed, and whether I need to do anything to the starter solenoid?

Based on the wiring I can't see why it would hurt without the starter, but I'd rather be safe, than have a fire.

 

[oldman570]

Re: 1985 Mercury 18XD Run without Starter?

You should be able to use the motor, but it would be best to disconnect the yellow wires from the rectifier and tape them up, incase the rectifier is bad as damage to the stator can happen, or test the rectifier before running the motor. If the rectifier test good you will still need to leave the battery hooked up and remove the wire from the solenoid to starter and get a new one when you can get a new starter. Test the solenoid before buying one as it still could be good. JMO
Oldman570

 

[orangeTANG]

Re: 1985 Mercury 18XD Run without Starter?

Excellent. Thanks for the reply. I managed to find a replacement solenoid for $20 locally so I replaced it. The starter now works. I'm about to test the rectifier to see if its damaged or not. The rectifier is a bit more $$$ but I'll replace it if its tests bad.

Is there any testing that needs to be done on the stator?

 

[orangeTANG]

Re: 1985 Mercury 18XD Run without Starter?

I just followed the procedure to check the rectifier and everything looks ok. I think only the solenoid is bad.

Thanks everyone for your input.