88 Suzuki 85hp Starter Spins Backwards

Jheat

Recruit
Joined
Jun 12, 2003
Messages
4
Blew a fuse while attempting to start motor....motor cranking fine. Replace fuse, Battery seemed low so attached other battery starter would spin but not pop up to engage motor. Pulled and cleaned starter motor, seems fine. reinstalled and noticed the reason it was not popping up and engageing the flywheel is that the starter motor is spinning backwards. Possible reverse polarity on battery? If so how could I fix battery back to proper polarity. Other Reasons? Thanks Jim
 
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DJ

Guest
Re: 88 Suzuki 85hp Starter Spins Backwards

Jheat,<br /><br />I think you answered your own question.<br /><br />Either the battery cables are on backwards or the starter was assembled incorrectly.
 

Jheat

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Joined
Jun 12, 2003
Messages
4
Re: 88 Suzuki 85hp Starter Spins Backwards

thanks djohns19. The starter was re-assembled the same as it was taken apart.? And the battery cables are on properly. While trying to research I found this on the web and it sounds just like me. How can this be tested? <br /><br />Maritime Puzzler<br />RAY: Hi, we're back. You're listening to Car Talk with us, Click and Clack, the Tappett Brothers, and we're here to talk about cars, car repair, and, duh, the answer to last week's Puzzler. <br />TOM: What was the Puzzler? <br />RAY: Well, this came across my desk recently. I think 1994. And I don't know if it's true or not, but as I mentioned last week, it's never stopped me in the past. And this came from someone named Dale via our Website, which is the Car Talk section of cars.com. And I can only assume that Dale is a bedouin. Dale says, I used to work at a marina where we stored and launched boats with a crane. We had a repair shop with about five mechanics, a parts department, you know, all that stuff, a new and used boat sales department, and as such, I'm sure they had a lot of auto mechanics hanging around the place. One day, a customer with an inboard powered boat used it for water skiing and left it at the dock overnight. And he came in to use it the next morning, and the battery was dead because he'd left the lights on. So, the head mechanic pulls out the battery and takes it to the shop for a quick charge. You don't bring the mountain to Mohammed in this case. You bring the battery in. <br />TOM: Yeah. <br />RAY: A while later, they take the battery back to the boat. They put it in and try to start it. The starter spins up. You know, you can hear the motor turn, but it doesn't engage the fly wheel. <br />TOM: Mmmm. <br />RAY: OK? It started fine several times yesterday, the owner of the boat says. So, they pull the starter off, thinking it's no good, and they what? Bring the starter inside, and they put it on the bench, and they test it. And every time they hit it with the 12 volts, it works perfectly. The little gear jumps out, and it would engage the -- <br />TOM: Spins like crazy. <br />RAY: Spins like crazy. So, they put it back in the boat, and again, it spins up, but doesn't engage the fly wheel. <br />TOM: Hm. <br />RAY: A while later, they figured out what was wrong, and they fixed it, and there was nothing wrong with the engine, there was nothing wrong with the starter, and I guess I lied a little bit when I said there was nothing wrong with the -- <br />TOM: I think so? <br />RAY: You think that was a lie? <br />TOM: Well, you could call it a mistake. <br />RAY: I could, huh? <br />TOM: You could. And you could even explain away, you could -- <br />RAY: How would I do that? <br />TOM: No, you could prove that there really was nothing wrong with the battery. <br />RAY: The battery wasn't faulty. <br />TOM: The battery wasn't faulty. <br />RAY: OK. So, there was nothing wrong with the engine. The starter motor was OK. And the battery was not faulty.<br />TOM: No. The battery was the problem, but there was nothing wrong with it. <br />RAY: And the question was, what was the problem? I've never done this before, but I understand it's possible, when hooking up the battery charger, if you remember, they took the battery from the boat and brought it into the shop. And they hooked up the charger to the battery, which was completely stone dead, obviously, because he had left the lights on overnight. And when they hooked it up, instead of hooking the red connector to positive and the black connector to negative, they reversed them. <br />TOM: Yeah. <br />RAY: And evidently, the battery will take the charge in reverse. And when they installed it in the boat and hooked the wires up correctly, it made the starter turn backwards. And when that happens, the little gear won't pop out and engage the fly wheel. Do we have a winner this week?
 
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DJ

Guest
Re: 88 Suzuki 85hp Starter Spins Backwards

jheat,<br /><br />It's possible.<br /><br />A volt meter across the terminals will tell you.
 

Jheat

Recruit
Joined
Jun 12, 2003
Messages
4
Re: 88 Suzuki 85hp Starter Spins Backwards

Thanks again djohns19. the battery checks out fine w/ voltmeter. The only thing I can think of is to pull the starter motor again and start flipping magnets till something good happens. Which worries me because I took care to re-assemble properly when I cleaned it. But man, does it go backwards fast now. :D thanks for the help, Jim
 

petryshyn

Commander
Joined
Oct 3, 2001
Messages
2,851
Re: 88 Suzuki 85hp Starter Spins Backwards

>Battery internal polarity reversed<br />>Battery cables reversed<br />>Starter barrel 180 deg. out<br />>brush holder/end cap 180 deg. out<br /><br />When checking as Djohns19 recommends, be sure you carefully observe the polarity on your meter. Reverse polarity on a digital usually puts a "dash" in front of the voltage reading which can easily be missed. The reading is still valid, but the dash is the telltale of reverse polarity :) .
 

Jheat

Recruit
Joined
Jun 12, 2003
Messages
4
Re: 88 Suzuki 85hp Starter Spins Backwards

Thanks Schematic - The latest tests have the starter motor jumper cabled directly to the boat battery and a spare battery and it works perfect. Hook up starter motor where it is supposed to be and still runs backwards. Somewhere between the battery and the starter motor ??? I measure 13.5 Volts at the starter wires when the key switch is engaged. Would a short or bad ground be causing this? Relay switch? Any Ideas? :confused:
 

jim dozier

Lieutenant Commander
Joined
Jan 8, 2003
Messages
1,970
Re: 88 Suzuki 85hp Starter Spins Backwards

Check your continuity between your positive battery cable in the boat and the positive power cable where it comes into the motor. Do the same with the negative cable. Somewhere someone has reversed the connection. Are you sure you have the negative going to the ground and the positive going to the starter solenoid? You had the starter off of the engine right? I just went out and checked my 1987 DT85 the top wire on the starter goes to the ground on the exhaust cover where the negative battery cable goes. The bottom red wire on the starter motor goes to the back (inside) terminal (when looking at the engine from the port side) on the starter solenoid. The positve battery terminal goes to the front left (when viewed from the port side) terminal on the starter solenoid. Hope this helps.
 

madecool

Seaman Apprentice
Joined
Apr 17, 2003
Messages
37
Re: 88 Suzuki 85hp Starter Spins Backwards

This should be easy to check. If all esle fails. Try a different battery and wire up yourself then you will know for sure. You can have your cake and eat too and have few beers.
 

jp2009

Recruit
Joined
May 25, 2009
Messages
1
Re: 88 Suzuki 85hp Starter Spins Backwards

A bit late i know but for others reference, we had the same prob. We found that we had refitted the stator back onto the rotor upside down. An easy mistake if not marked before stripping down the starter motor.
 
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