Sleeping Mercruiser will not turn over any thoughts and suggestions

Hello, I hope you all can give me some advise and direction on a problem that has occurred. You all were great when I first got the boat. I*have a 2000 Sea Ray 5.0L MCM Mercruiser with a carb and a Alpha one Gen II stern drive that has been dormant for two years. My home has been under construction and the boat was stored off site for the time. When I got it back last week, I could see that rain water had accumulated in the engine compartment and the drain had clogged from debris. I assume some of the lower engine and probably the starter was in the water for a time, my bad!!!

So when I went to recommission and start the boat it will not. I hear a one loud single click from the starter whenever I turn the key but it will not turn over. I believe the batteries are fully charged and it does not sound like the clicking you would hear from a weak battery. The starter felt hot after multiple attempts at starting it. I can hear the fuel pump engage. From what I hear I beleive the starter is geting current.

So what is everyones thoughts? Could the starter by frozen in place? Rusted? Could the engine be frozen? Unfortunately the down side of this boat setup is engine access. I can justbarely reach the starter by feel much less examine it with any detail. What can I do to diagnose the problem. Any way to loosen a stuck starter?

Thanks in advance for everyones thoughts and suggestions!!!! Ike

Re: Sleeping Mercruiser will not turn over any thoughts and suggestions

what does the oil in the motor look like?
Can you pull the spark plugs and verify that the motor turns by turning the crank pulley at the front?

Re: Sleeping Mercruiser will not turn over any thoughts and suggestions

If your started was submerged in water I would bet it's rusted inside.... It is a little tough to reach but can be done....I had the same problem with my 5.7 Merc. I laid a mirror in the bilge so I could see the bolts....9/16" thin wall socket works best to remove the bolts

Re: Sleeping Mercruiser will not turn over any thoughts and suggestions

I thought to check the oil as well for water intrusion. I will be out to the boat this Sunday and will do. I am getting to old to squeeze into these tight places. But will try your advise and I thought of squeezing my camera in there and snapping some pics to better assess the situation. Thanks all any other thoughts??? Ike

Re: Sleeping Mercruiser will not turn over any thoughts and suggestions

As PS said, take a large handle ratchet and socket and put them on the bolt in the center of the crankshaft pulley (the large pulley in the lower center of the engine below the water pump). Try to turn it clockwise just a little bit and watch the pulley to see if it turns when the bolt moves. If the pulley moves even a little bit, your engine is not frozen, and odds are its just a bad starter.

You stating that the starter gets hot is what's bothering me here. If the loud click your hearing is the starter engaging the flywheel on a froze engine and it breaks loose all of a sudden and turns the engine over, it can do serious damage! I seen it happen to someone that didn't fog his engine before storing it unintentionaly for three years and the piston rings rusted to the cylinder bores. When it broke loose, it broke all the rings and deeply scored the cylinder walls causing him to have to replace his engine.

Your patience in this situation is key. If you don't have water in your oil and you cannot turn the engine over using the ratchet or breaker bar while using a moderate amount of strength, your engine is froze but all hope is not lost just yet. Pull out all of your spark plugs and spray large amounts of fogging oil into the holes, I reccomend Mercury/Quicksilver brand because it foams up like shaving cream. Fill the spark plug holes with fogging oil till it runs out of the spark plug hole every other day for a week to ten days. Letting it sit and soak like this may help break things loose. After it soaks and with the spark plugs still out of it try again to turn it over by hand. With the spark plugs out it should turn easily with little effort on the ratchet or breaker bar. If it does start to turn over, but is difficult, spray another large amount of fogging oil in and turn it over little by little with the ratchet/breaker bar like 1/2" forward,(or clockwise) then 1/4" backward until you turn the pulley all the way around, 360 degrees. Add some more oil and keep working the engine over by hand till things free up and it turns over easy and smooth.

Then try again to crank her with the key and see if she whirls over. If she does, put your spark plugs back in and try to fire her up.

Side note, It will probably be much easier for you to do the above if you remove some of the interior around your engine.

Re: Sleeping Mercruiser will not turn over any thoughts and suggestions

If your starter was under water it is or will SOON be bad. Replace it.

Re: Sleeping Mercruiser will not turn over any thoughts and suggestions

Hey all thanks for the advise, I am going to the boat tomorrow and will follow thru on . KyHeahunter1 the engine was heavily fogged before it went into storage 2 years ago. Hopefully it did its job, that is why I am hoping it is the starter.

Unforunately the boat's design does not allow removal of much to allow access to the engine or at least the starter. Thanks again Ike

Re: Sleeping Mercruiser will not turn over any thoughts and suggestions

Hopefully you won't have to go through all that work. I Google'd a picture of your boat and WOW!!!! You aren't lying about the lack of room around your engine!! I guess I have just been fortunate with the boats I've worked on, because yours is a nightmare compared to mine!! Hope you have better luck than I do.

Re: Sleeping Mercruiser will not turn over any thoughts and suggestions

I hate to bring it up but that much water sitting inside the hull is probably not good for the floor and transom either. Boats are designed for the water to be on the outside. I bought a boat the had the same issue and changed the starter only to find that the floor rotted and the transom was water logged. It would porpoise really bad because it was so tail heavy. Cut my losses and moved on.

Re: Sleeping Mercruiser will not turn over any thoughts and suggestions

Hello all, I got to the boat last weekend and I looked around and went through some of the things you advised and I should clarify a few things.

First the amount of water is possibly being over thought. The amount of water in the transom just reached to just below the upper section of the oil pan. In no way was the engine completely submerged. In fact the starter was probably only partially submerged. It is a all fiberglass boat so rot is not an issue but water intrusion is always a problem.

When the boat was put into storage 2 years ago it was heavily fogged and the oil was changed out. I checked the oil and there does not seem to be any water contamination and nor has the level raised. I tried turn the engine with a ratchet (with the plugs in place) but it would not budge. Mind you I was not sure how much pressure to put on it and I was concerned that I may shear the bolt off. The starter continues to only do a large click and I jumped the batteries with a starter so I believe that there is enough power getting to the starter.

So should the engine be so hard to turn with the plugs still in even if it is not frozen? I would imagine so, but still I am surprised it will not move. I assume my next step is to remove the plugs and try it. Sadly the engine position does not make that so easy for some of them. Could I get away with just removing a few to check to see will move with a ratchet?

What would cause a fogged engine to lock up? Could a bad starter still be the cause?

How many bolts hold this starter in, two?

Can anyone recommend a mechanic in the North Fork of Long Island NY?

Here are some photos of the starter, I doubt they show anything but does anyone see anything?




As always I greatly appreciate any and all help and opinions Ike

Re: Sleeping Mercruiser will not turn over any thoughts and suggestions

starter looks shot it was under water or it had water leaking on it for some time.,might want to check/replace the battery cable too.
Trying to turn a v8 with the nose bolt is always a bad idea.snap it, and your looking at crankshaft replacement.
Worst case, obtain a used input shat, weld it to a "T" handel of some pipe , remove drive and insert it to turn the motor.

Re: Sleeping Mercruiser will not turn over any thoughts and suggestions

I agree that starter is toast... And yes I would replace the starter and ground cables....clean all the other wire connections too.

Re: Sleeping Mercruiser will not turn over any thoughts and suggestions

Dirty Dawg said:

It is a all fiberglass boat so rot is not an issue but water intrusion is always a problem.

Click to expand...

Are you sure it's all glass? I would think the transon,stringers and deck are wood wrapped in glass.....and yes they DO rot!

Re: Sleeping Mercruiser will not turn over any thoughts and suggestions

I was definitely concerned that the bolt may snap. Would it turn easily without the pluas in or would there still be too much resisitance?

Regarding to rot as far as I know (which is not much) there wasn't any "wood" of any type in this Sea Ray model to avoid potential rot issues. I had read it in either a brochure , spec sheet or review of some type.

So the starter needs to go but is there any way to know that the engine is not frozen or seized? Thanks Ike

Re: Sleeping Mercruiser will not turn over any thoughts and suggestions

engine bed stringers are wood encased with glass cloth, transom mount area is 2 1/4 inches thick, some plywood there too.

Re: Sleeping Mercruiser will not turn over any thoughts and suggestions

I have a 1995 Baja Islander with a 350/5.7 liter Merc in it. With the plugs in, I can turn the engine over easily using a 12" long half inch drive Craftsman ratchet and I am 5'8" tall weighing 185 pounds. (I am not a big man)
With the spark plugs out I can grab the crank pulley with my bare hands and spin the engine over, not fast, but I can turn it over.

I don't think your engine is hydrolocked meaning that you have standing water on top of your pistons preventing them from traveling upwards, I think your engine is locked up or froze up meaning your rings are rusted to the cylinder walls just from being exposed to all that humidity for so long. With it sitting for two years in a literally 100% humidity environment, the rise and fall of the afternoon temperature and sun will cause heavy condensation to form all over your engine, inside and out, rusting unprotected surfaces.

Yes, this is why we fog our engines, however, if its not done properly the amount of oil used don't matter.

I have also seen this happen to boats that were stored inside, out of the weather, for a few years. Just the moisture that was trapped under the boats cover was enough to cause it in this case.

Your starter will have 2 bolts holding it on, both going straight up into the bottom of the engine block.

If you don't have the means to take this boat to a mechanic and have it repaired, which could easily cost a few grand, then please take my above advise and don't bolt on a new starter and turn the key.

Re: Sleeping Mercruiser will not turn over any thoughts and suggestions

Thanks all for the clarification and info. Trust me I do plan to listen to the advise and warnings given here. That is why I asked!!!

BT Doctur thanks for the info, I am not sure why but I thought I read that they had moved to all fiberglass construction to avoid wood rot issues. Lets hope that the wood was well encased and not penetrated.

KyHeahunter1 again thanks for your detailed response and clarification. Until you explained it I could not understand where/how the moisture got into the engine. At some point I would love a lesson on how to properly fog an engine. I assume it includes removing the plugs and pouring the oil into each cylinder. So from your description above the engine should have turned with the amount of force I applied.

I will bite the bullet, pull the plugs and start the process you described above. I bet, that the starter is still functioning, although I will replace it none the less and it cannot turn the "locked" engine.

Normally pulling the plugs is not a big deal but the design and access to the engine of this boat is terrible. Just will take some time and contortioning. Wish me luck I will let you all know how it comes out!!!! Ike

Re: Sleeping Mercruiser will not turn over any thoughts and suggestions

I just had similar prob on my 87 4winns. Look at sticky on top of page and follow the process of chec king power everywhere .Mine ended up being the starter,it was rusted internally.Changed it and it starts fine now,in my opiniin you could worry yourself to death for nothing on motor being seized,until you change starter and see..Sometimes engines are hard to turn over with a wratchet and socket,plugs in, all belts on its gonna be hard to turn.Id be more worried if it was easy to turn..Maybe ya just have tight motor with good compression?Good luck..

Re: Sleeping Mercruiser will not turn over any thoughts and suggestions

Your very welcome Ike, and yes, I do "play it safe" because my boating budget is very small. If I weren't able to work on my engines myself and didn't have the help of friends and the people on these forums with my outdrives, I simply wouldn't be able to afford to have this hobby for my kids.


I google'd your boat and I totally agree with you.
Your boat's engine is in a nasty position to do this to. However, if it were me and even if I had to remove the exhaust manifolds and risers to do this, I would. You can lay on top of your engine and pull your plugs by "feeling" your way with your hands (don't forget to lable your plug wires). But, if you get them out and the engine don't turn over easily then, start the process. If the fogging oil don't get her loose, may have to try some ATF. You will need to change your engine oil, if you get her loosened back up, before you start her because if the oil does its job it will end up in your crankcase mixed with your engine oil and thinning it out. I think if it we're mine and I took the plugs out, I would get a can of PB Blaster penetrating oil, available at any major auto parts place, and shoot a couple of ounces of it into each cylinder first. Then a couple days later start the fogging oil. A hundred dollars worth of oil and gaskets isn't much compared to a new engine. And I do wish you the best of luck, and I still hope I am wrong about all this.

My Starcraft, the boat in my profile pic, is a 1992 and my Baja is a 1995. Both of their starter electrical circuits are the same. Power to start is sent from the key switch on the dash to a large relay on the front drivers side of the engine, next to a circuit breaker. When that relay is tripped, power is then sent to the solenoid mounted on top of the starter, then from there to the starter itself. Those relays on the front of the engine are notorious for going bad as the contacts inside corrode. When they are bad and you turn the key to start you will get a single click from it, but its not loud. In either of my boats you couldn't hear the click if the engine covers were in place and the starter would not get warm because it would not be getting sent "signal" to start if the flow of power stopped at the relay. Since your boat is newer than mine I am not sure if yours is the same, but an easy way to test to see if your starter is getting power is to use a 12 volt test light. They are available at any major auto parts store for as little as 4 or 5 dollars, and it looks like a screw driver that is pointed like an ice pic and has a wire coming out of the handle. You would put the wire on the negative side of your battery and probe the ice pic end into the big wire that is exposed running from the solenoid mounted on the starter into the starter body itself. Have someone else turn the key to start and the handle will light up if there is power. Be very carefull to only touch the starter wire with the probe because there is enough power running through that wire to weld with if you should touch another part of the probe to anything metal.

Lit549, I didn't mean for him to try to see how fast he could turn the engine over with a wrench, I just asked him to try to move it slightly. Pistons have to move to build compression and I doubt a 12 year old boat with even very low hours on it would be too tight to turn slightly with a wrench. Also, the water pump, alternator, and power steering pumps should all turn with the touch of a finger without the belts on and even if one is locked up, the belt on the crank pulley would slip before it would prevent him from turning the engine over enough to move the crank pulley a fraction of an inch.

I am not trying to be a "know it all" at all and if it seems so, I apologize. These are simply my opinions based on my experience. That's all. Its his boat to do with as he pleases and don't have to do any of this. But if it is froze and he bolts on a new starter with a hot battery behind it, chances are the engine would be toast if it broke loose when he turned the key. A lot less anyway than his 50/50 shot of breaking her loose by hand. Either way, an hour of his time pulling the plugs will tell the tale.

Re: Sleeping Mercruiser will not turn over any thoughts and suggestions

Hello all here is an update if anyone is interested. Got to the boat this weekend and tried to crank the engine with a ratchet and it moved about 20 degrees, Good thing I assume.

So I took a little less than an hour and took the rear seat cushions, bench and what ever fiberglass trim that I could remove to access the engine as best as possible. This allowed me to remove the spark plugs relatively easily. I then tried to turn the engine with the ratchet and it turned another 25 degrees but that was it. Again I was concerned about snapping the bolt off so I was cautious but I did put a good amount of force. Should the engine crank easily and completely without the plugs in? Even though the engine is 12 years old it had very low hours on it if that means anything. I gave each cylinder a quick squirt of fogging oil.

I attempted to remove the starter. Although I could get a wrench on the bolts its position made it impossible to put any force on it. Also I suspect the bolts may be frozen I tried spraying them with blaster to try and penetrate the rust, with no luck. I was thinking off using a air driven impact wrench, but a larger one will not fit and I am concerned that it may shear the bolt off. The smaller one can produce 100 lbs. of torque, bad or good idea?

I have asked around and hopefully found a mechanic to take it to if I cannot get it done. So what is everyone thoughts on the update?

Thanks Ike