Force 85 starter toubleshooting

I am in the midst of several critical issues with my 1988 Force 85 ob.

Starter - Still not turning over well after checking all connections and dissassembling starter and cleaning completely all the parts. There's
a fully charged battery as well, brushes/springs look great.

A few questions:
Is it possible the solonoid could cause the starter to behave as though it's almost out of battery power & is there any other component between the battery and starter that could cause trouble?

2nd - The starter parts looked like they experienced heat damage (my fault) could there be damaged parts that I can't see within the starter (like inside the copper winding?

Thanks for any help. Also - I had an illegal username yesterday and was the person that posted a question about a mysterious spark problem - thanks to those that responded!

Re: Force 85 starter toubleshooting

Yes the solenoid is an important piece of the puzzle. You can test by simply taking the battery cable (directly from the battery before the solenoid) and touching it to the 12VDC terminal on the starter. Be aware that you'll see a pretty good arc, but this is normal. If the starter performs normally, then I would suspect a bad contact inside the solenoid. If no difference, then probably a bad starter.

If you don't like arcing, you can also measure the voltage drop (if any) across the starter solenoid as you are cranking.

Re: Force 85 starter toubleshooting

Thanks, I'll try both.

Re: Force 85 starter toubleshooting

Remove the plugs and see if the motor turns then.If it does then do a compression/spark test and post your results.J

Re: Force 85 starter toubleshooting

Starter mounting is a ground. Clean metal to metal contacts between starter housing and bracket and main motor body.

Re: Force 85 starter toubleshooting

compression: 105, 105, 50 (1,2,3). without the plugs, engine turns over faster, but not at normal speed. currently soaking the cyl spaces with seafoam (overnight). by-passed the solenoid and starter behaved same way almost couldn't turn over engine. Frustrating after cleaning all internal parts of starter back down to clean metal.... also did the same with all the connections between battery and starter and ground.

My guess on this part of my problem - fried starter.

prior to starter issues, was having curious trouble with ignition spark. new coil on #3 sparked per rotation, but power pack #1 would only provide the coils with spark on one coil feed wire (either for #1 or #2) in any combo of coils 1,2, or 3) no matter which way I traded around the wires..... advice was perhaps bad power pack, but someone mentioned that if the motor is turning over slowly, I may not be getting an accurate read on spark. which led me back to solving the starter issue before looking at the ignition situation.

Re: Force 85 starter toubleshooting

The #3 cylinder is a problem.They should all be about the same.Uneven comp will make it hard to turn over.
You will need to figure out what's wrong with that cylinder.
Pull the head and check for a blown gasket or stuck rings.
Don't worry about the starter till you do that.J

Re: Force 85 starter toubleshooting

After letting the pistons soak in seafoam overnight, the compression came up some on the #3. I just hand turned the motor for that deduction - but you're right, the starter often gets hung up in the cycle when it hits that spot in the sequence. On an aside, I replaced the starter and now have full-speed starting. that helps considerably as the boat did get going, though not easily at all.
I have the decarbonizing FAQ which gives a pretty good recipe/best practice for cleaning the carbon. that's next along with a new fuel pump diaphram. The current one is bowl shaped on both circular areas - I figure that provides a pretty weak feed at lower rpms....
- paul

Re: Force 85 starter toubleshooting

You might want to verify your compression again with the tester. If cylinders are not within 10% of each other, pull the head. Hopefully its only a bad head gasket. If you are hesitant to pull the head, check the torque of the head bolts.

Re: Force 85 starter toubleshooting

Thanks for the info on the 10% rule. I'm pretty sure its not within that range, yet. Haven't done the full decarbon procedure as listed on this site, and I would like to pull the head cover but am resisting the urge until I try everything else.

"one more thing" - the gasket on the other side is leaking water just a little - when the engine is at a good temp I can see a little steam and 'spits' of bubbles etc along the gasket. Seems pretty minor, but you all can perhaps tell me if that's a serious concern......

Thanks! I really appreciate all this help.
-Paul

Re: Force 85 starter toubleshooting

If you are referring to the gasket for the exhaust cover that has the 14 or so bolts holding it on.....it should be corrected soon. May not be a show stopper now, but all of the cooling water for the motor runs through the exhaust cover before it reaches the water jacket that surrounds the cylinders.

Re: Force 85 starter toubleshooting

Ok, thanks. Yes, it is the exhaust cover. Will-do