Troubleshoot Starter or Solenoid

[ShaneT]

I have a 2001, 225 Mercury outboard. The engine started up as usual, but cut off after a few minutes. Then I heard a clicking noise, then saw smoke coming from the cowling. It was coming from the starter and solenoid area. A wire leading into the starter has a melted covering. How do I troubleshoot the solenoid and the starter?

 

[Barnacle_Bill]

I would suspect the starter. If you are comfortable doing it you could jump the battery directly to the starter. But first make sure all wiring is clean and tight. Or you could take the starter off and have it checked out at your local auto electric shop. They can rebuild it if needed.

 

[Texasmark]

Sounds to me like the contacts stuck in the solenoid and kept the starter engaged with the engine running.......not good for starters. They roll the engine over at 200 or so depending on things like plugs in or out, weather and all. At idle your engine is around 700. Gonna assume the shorted solenoid burned up the starter due to the engine running it at an excessive speed and it locked up which put more resistance on the engine than it could handle under the circumstances and it shut down. The melted wire to the starter is one of your clues that the starter is burned up. A point to remember here is that if the solenoid had opened back up after the engine started, like it is supposed to, you would not be having this problem.

Mark