Boat starts-then won't start

[Trim]

Need some direction on a problem I'm having. Twice now I have taken my fishing boat out, put it in the water and it fires right up. Drive about 5 minutes to my fishing hole and turn motor off and troll for an hour or so. Go to leave and motor will not start. Tries to turnover but won't. Any ideas what could be my problem?

 

[Trim]

Motor is 2001 2 stroke tracker by Mercury

 

[keninaz]

If it's not cranking or turning over as you have implied I would look at the condition of the battery, charging circuit and connections.

 

[Trim]

I just put in a new cranking battery after it happened the first time thinking that was it but apparently it wasn't the battery.

 

[keninaz]

OK, assuming the battery is good and the charging circuit is working, I would still check the connections at the starter itself and the solenoid that activates the starter.
And don't forget about checking the ground wire connection too. You must check the complete circuit, not just the hot lead.

 

[roscoe]

So, the motor spins, but won't fire?

OR

The motor won't spin?

The solutions would be different.

 

[Trim]

Went out and checked connections on battery and everything looked good. Decided to see if it would start and sure enough it fired right up. This is the most confusing thing ever

 

[Trim]

Been trying to do some research. Would have the main batter cable on top and fish finder cable on bottom have anything to do with it? Maybe that's causing it to not get a good connection?

 

[TruckDrivingFool]

You need to check ALL of the connections not just at the battery. My bet would be a goofy ground connection at the block.

 

[gddavid]

"Tries to turnover but won't"

Do you mean the starter isn't spinning the flywheel (or barely), or do you mean that it is spinning the flywheel but the motor doesn't fire off and run?

Assuming the former situation, it sounds like an electrical connection or component is adequately carrying amperage when cold but electrical resistance increases with temperature so after the motor has run a while it needs time to cool back off. As mention by others it may be the connections at the solenoid or the negative battery cable to the block which are all hot after the motor has been running. The starter itself can fail in this way, the windings take along time to cool back off as it is mounted right next to the warm engine block and insulated by the engine cover. I bet the motor would restart sooner if you removed the engine cover. Clean up the connections at the block and if this doesn't fix the issue, it is the starter itself.

 

[roffey]

"Tries to turnover but won't"

Do you mean the starter isn't spinning the flywheel (or barely), or do you mean that it is spinning the flywheel but the motor doesn't fire off and run?
.

Good question, I always thought that turning over meant when you turn the key the fly wheel turns but does not start. Or is there a difference between rolling over and turning over?

 

[Trim]

gddavid, I have not tried starting it with the engine cover off so I can not for sure say if the flywheel is or is not spinning. If I were to guess I would say it is spinning by what you have said because I would not think it would get to hot when running it for only a few minutes and then having the engine off for at least an hour especially on a cool day.

 

[bassman284]

What we have here is a failure to communicate.

 

[gddavid]

Or is there a difference between rolling over and turning over?

Sure there is, a horizontally oriented engine rolls over and a vertically mounted engine turns over

Frankly it doesn't really matter what the technically correct definition is because the owner of the engine is unlikely to be using the same definition. I try to speak in terms with the least ambiguity but there is always something lost in translation. I would define turning over as the flywheel (and the crankshaft it is connected to) spinning but pistons not firing (or not firing adequately to run).

Trim,
The motor turning over is what you normally hear while you twisting the key until the motor starts. Pull the engine cover to remove all doubt. It would not surprise me at all for a failing starter to refuse to spin even after sitting an hour. If they motor is spinning and still not starting, you now have to troubleshoot fuel, spark or compression.

 

[Trim]

Ok thanks ggdavid. I'm just going to have a mechanic look at it. I'm not mechanically smart enough to do anything lol.

 

[roffey]

Sure there is, a horizontally oriented engine rolls over and a vertically mounted engine turns over :

My comment was more the difference between the motor fly wheel turning and the motor combusting or trying to start.

 

[Trim]

Well I finally had time to have my guy come look at the boat. The darn thing started right up, let it run for 5 min, turned it off, let it set for 10 minutes, and it started right back up so he could not diagnose the problem. It did have spark so I dont think that is the issue. Said he thought it might be the stator but wasnt for sure. Hated to start throwing parts in it without not knowing for sure. Need to have it not start when being looked at so he can easily diagnose what the problem is.

 

[keninaz]

Well if you had spark and it would not restart I would suspect a fuel problem. Perhaps a filter somewhere that is getting clogged? I had a car that did that too me when I got a bad load of gas. Turned out it had filter sock in the tank I did not know of. Drive it down the highway so it was sucking good and all the dirt clogged that internal filter in the tank on me. Then you waited a little while so the suction relieved itself and the car would start again and do it all over.

 

[wn6ngp]

I'm not sure I understand the failure. When "it does not start" is the starter spinning the motor and you hear it rotating trying to start or do you just get a "click, click"? On my 90hp I had a start solenoid go bad. It sometimes started sometimes did not and when it didn't I could tell the motor was just simply not being rotated. I ran a large wire around the solenoid to validate its failure and then just replaced the solenoid.

 

[Silvertip]

Gee whiz. Does motor crank and not start or does it not crank. Crank = turn over = spin. At this point we still don't know the issue.