electrical short in ignition

Hello all,

I have a 1996 Mariah with a 5.7 liter mercruiser inboard. I have just replaced a hydraulic lifter myself on the engine and after me replacing it I have having a starting problem.
My motor has always started after 2 or 3 turns, even after sitting in the winter months (always been lucky)

Now after changing the lifter and I turn the key over I get a quick clicking sound from the motor compartment and then I lose all power to the boat for a few minutes then I get power back into my boat.

After trying that over and over again I do get lucky a couple times and the boat starts. I know the batteries are good and have a full charge because when the motor does get the juice to the starter it turns over right away.

I'm thinking it has something to do with the starter or coil....... is there a circuit breaker with an automatic reset somewhere in the starting system?

For example; When I go to start my boat I will have the blower going and it has plenty of power and I turn the boat over to start it I get that quick clicking sound form the motor compartment and then lose all power (blower turns off) and wait aprox. 5 minutes and the blower turns back on.

Is there a grounding issue? The starter has some corrosion on the outside but the terminals look clean. I would hate to buy a new starter to find out it wasn?t the issue.

Any help or ideas would be great.

Re: electrical short in ignition

Do you have a test light or meter that you can check the starter with when it apears dead? I wouldn't expect a resetable fise on the starter circuit. A light to ground at your starter might tell you a lot. The fact that it will start once in a while makes me think starter.

Re: electrical short in ignition

Since you asked the same question a couple of days ago, you must be sure that it is not a loose connection...

Coil is not the problem, at least at this moment. The coil is powered through the ignition switch (small purple wire) this would not impact the operation of the starter and even if disconnected would not cause the starter to just click. If it was the coil, you would be able to crank the motor, but it would not start up or run.

The power comes off of the battery and goes directly to the battery, coming off of the battery it goes to a 50 Amp circuit breaker. This then supplies power to the ignition circuit(Red/purple wire), and then back through a yellow/red wire which goes back to the starting solenoid.

Typically when you get clicking, you have charged your solenoid and it causes the click, but you don't get enough juice to move that big motor -- the starter. sometimes you can tell this just be checking voltage at the starter during a start cycle. you can also override everything and "jump" your starter.

There is a great sticky on the Mercruiser forum which will take you through the elimination of the starter, circuit breaker, solenoid etc. It will lead you home, since you don't like electrical, I would follow it step by step, not assuming anything, otherwise you will be done and the one element you assumed will be the one that bit you.

Hope this helps.