1982 V4 - No start - Help please

Had a great weekend out on the lake skiing. My little 16' avenger tows me better through the buoys than my nautique.

Engine was running great all morning, no problems starting. Pulled into a cove to relax for a while, had the radio on. Went to start the boat... click. Ok... maybe the radio drained the main, flipped the switch to the secondary. Click. Nothing. OK.... broke out a rope, wrapped it around the flywheel... started right up.

Ok, I won't shut it off. Left it running for a few hours while skiing etc. Turned off the boat. Started just fine all the rest of the day.

Next day, ran fine all day. No problems starting.

Today, after a 400 mile trailer ride home, went to start in the driveway... click. Nothing.

So, the engine will pull start fine. But seems to have starter gremlins occasionally.

Where do I start? Solenoid? Starter?

I tried jumping the battery with both the secondary and the tahoe. Still will only click.

Re: 1982 V4 - No start - Help please

The current surge draw when starting is dependent upon the wire end terminals being clean and clamped tightly. Start there first. This goes for the solenoid and starter cable ends. When all you hear is the click, try jump starting with a known good battery and jumper cables. That should validate that the starter is not the problem. At that point, could be a bad solenoid, even a bad key switch.

Re: 1982 V4 - No start - Help please

Ok.

Went out and cleaned the terminals. Both batteries are brand new. I hooked it up to my tahoe which was running at the time. Re-checked and re-tightened the battery connections. Click. Nothing. Did this a few times. smoke puffed from the starter.....

Re: 1982 V4 - No start - Help please

Sounds like a bad starter. Especially when they smoke.

Re: 1982 V4 - No start - Help please

I was hoping you weren't going to say that.... Ok. time to buy a new starter.

Re: 1982 V4 - No start - Help please

Before you give up on that one, take it apart. Possible all it needs is a new set of brushes. They are replaceable (and so is the armature.) You'll want to clean all the old carbon dust out of it.

Re: 1982 V4 - No start - Help please

That's even better. Is there any guide to doing this? My shop manual is on the way, but won't be here for another week.

Re: 1982 V4 - No start - Help please

The service manual is the right ticket for the repair. Before your manual arrives, you may want to check out the factory exploded parts diagram for your starter on the web: epc.brp.com