'74 Merc Inline six - dead starter?

I'm working on a 1974 Mercury 1500 that spent the winter outside without any cover. The first thing I'd like to do is simply run the starter with the spark plugs out after squirting some oil in the cylinders to free everything up.

Today I tried just that, all I got were sparks. I hooked a set of heavy jumper cables directly to the starter and touched the battery on the other end. Nothing happened, no movement, no sound, just a couple sparks. The motor isn't locked up though, I can turn it over by hand.

Is my starter seized up? Is there any way to check without taking it off the engine? Is this something I can rebuild myself? Should I try putting some penetrating oil on the bendix? :facepalm:

Re: '74 Merc Inline six - dead starter?

If you jumped both + and - directly from the battery to the starter and got only sparks I think you need to overhaul or rebuild your starter.

Good luck.

Re: '74 Merc Inline six - dead starter?

To amplify what JB said. The starter is mounted in rubber. It should have a ground cable on the top of the starter connected from the starter body to the cowling support. The neg jumper cable should connect to the starter body. The positive jumper cable should connect to the lower 5/16" bolt on the starter.

Re: '74 Merc Inline six - dead starter?

Yeah, that's where I hooked the jumpers to. Is it possible it's just a bad connection? My jumpers couldn't clamp onto the starter connections very well, and the nuts are rusty.

Besides that, do I have to take off the cowl support to get the starter out? I see four major bolts holding the starter on but one of them seems impossible to reach...

Re: '74 Merc Inline six - dead starter?

Yes, remove the cowl support. D/C the electric quick disconnect first.