Mercruiser 120 (2.5L) Starter

[pigrge]

Good Morning!
Wll this weekend I was out on the boat and I had a wonderful day, got it tuned nice and right, and played all day long, after about an housr of stopping and starting and so on and so forth I decided to hang out on shore for a while, about an hour. I went back out to the boat and tried to start it, and nothing. All the starter did was give me one small faint click when I turned the key, then nothing. Actually every time I turn the key it gives me one small click, but no crank. I have voltage to my starter solenoid, it is just not doing its thing. Any ideas on if it is just the solenoid, or should I replace the entire starter? Also, if I have to replace the starter, how in the world do you get at those bolts?? I can feel the one on the outside of the starter but I cannot feel, nor do I know if there is one on the engine side of the starter. Any help would be appreciated. The boat is a 1983 Sea Ray Serial number of motor 6028915 Thanks!

[JMRuth72]

Typical starting problems apply. Things to check in order.

Connections
Battery
Solenoid
Starter

After checking your connections take your battery to a parts store and have it checked. Just because you have voltage does not mean that you have AMPERAGE. You may have enough voltage to activate the solenoid, but not enough amperage to turn the starter. All the solenoid is basically is a power relay.

[Haut Medoc]

Check all of the stuff above.....
If you beached the boat, I would pull the plugs & see if the engine will spin, you might have got some water through the exhaust.....

[pigrge]

What does that mean I got some water through the exhaust? Actually earlier that day I did run into an unmarked sand bar, the water was REALLY low, and It sounded like I hit it pretty hard and then after that for about ten minutes the motor ran like crap and I did end up pulling the plugs and replacing them with a spare set and it started back up and ran fine. I did pull off all the connections and clean them up and made sure that everything was good and shiny and put them all back on and still "click" Now, when I go to check the solenoid, 1st you are talking about the solenoid that sits directly on top of the starter itself right? I keep seeing these other things on these website that look nothing like that tube that is on top of the starter. Also, when I pull up how to check that solenoid, it tells me that I have to have a voltmeter plus something else. Can you please explain to me and the rest of the "gang" how to properly check this solenoid? As well as the starter itself?

[thrasher]

If you stop a boat suddenly, (by cutting the engine or running aground) water can be forced up the exhaust and into the cylinders. The engine is then Hydrostatically locked (because you can't compress water, the engine cannot rotate). Haut Medoc is suggesting you remove all the spark plugs and see if the starter can turn the engine over. It's a great suggestion!!
If the engine does rotate, just spin it for 15 to 20 seconds to clear the water out, clean/replace the spark plugs and try to start it again.
If the engine does not rotate then you have removed hydralic lock as a possible fault. You then need to start checking the starter solenoid and motor. If you have a volt meter, you should be able to measure 12 volts on one of the large bolts on the starter solenoid (the tube thing above the starter motor), make sure you are connecting the negative lead of your multimeter to the engine (not the battery -ve terminal) to ensure you are testing the circuit that the starter motor sees (you problem could be a bad earth connection to the motor). Once you find the starter solenoid terminal that has the 12 volts, then connect the multimeter to the other terminal. You should see 0 volts, then have someone turn the ignition key and you should see 12 volts (it will be less than 12 volts due to the high current draw) on the terminal whilst the ignition key is in the start position.
If you don't see 12 volts then either your solenoid is defective or you are not receiving 12 volts to the solenoid coil to engage the starter solenoid. There are effectively two starter solenoids in a boat, there is the first solenoid (its a relay) that is usually mounted on the engine which operates directly from the ignition key, this solenoid then switches a larger current to the starter motor solenoid, and the starter motor solenoid then switches the very large current to the starter motor. You need to check that both solenoids are working, but I would try removing the spark plugs first and let the starter motor try to turn over the engine before doing any other tests.

Gary