starter hesitation

Hey everyone im fairly new to Iboats. Im in the military just bought a boat and did a good bit of rebuilding on it, got it to be running fine then my fuel pump went on me. After I replaced it I started having starter issues so I started reading up on other forums. Ive tried all the suggested ideas that people have given ( clean the connections, check to see if the wires are getting hot, check battery voltage) and im pretty sure my starter is bad but would still like to hear some other ideas that might be causing the issue before I get a new starter.

When I try to crank it over it only kicks the stator over about a 1/4 turn at a time with about a 1-2 sec. hesitation. The wires are not getting hot, the connections are good, I bought a new starter solenoid. Im getting 12.3Vish to the solenoid, when the starter is connected it jumps between 6.8v-8.4v but when it is not connected its the line is getting the full 12V. Does the power drop indicate anything or does it just mean I have a bad starter?

Also ive taken apart the starter (it was very dirty) cleaned it up put it back together (now that I think about it I never put any lube on anything) and it started cranking just fine for the first few tries then back to the hesitation. The manual does tell me to use a light grease on one of the components but I wasn't sure of the names of the pieces nor did I have pictures telling me what part was what and didn't want to put the lube on the wrong thing. Am I supposed to lube the magnetized part or what?

Also its a 1975 Johnson 135.

Re: starter hesitation

Hi
thats a biggish sized motor, is the battery large enough, 600CCA or so?
have you tried jumper leads straight to starter including the neg?

Re: starter hesitation

Take two new battery leads, short less than 3 ft. buy the thick ones as big around as your middle finger. charge you battery overnight on automatic setting so it does not overcharge, next day test your batt voltage. if good 12.6ish or higher run the ground lead & bolt to block. touch firmly the pos lead to the starter pos post. If starter does not turn over engine well, you most likely have a faulty starter.

Re: starter hesitation

Agree with above but you could also have dirty, worn or sticking brushes in there. Good idea to rebuild starter with new brushes in a kit you can right here at iboats. Good luck

Re: starter hesitation

awesome, ive tried the jumping idea and it did the same thing, I didn't know there was a rebuild kit ill def. take a look into that thanks!

Re: starter hesitation

Careful what you put in there in terms of lube. Ive seen people put in lots, it pools on the bottom and shorts out with the high voltage

Re: starter hesitation

update, replaced the starter, works like a champ