2002 Yamaha 115 starter sounds like it is not engaging motor

[tjfreemanjr]

I have had the boat for about 6 weeks and olly took it out 4 times. Last time out the battery just died on me out on the lake and I had to get a jump start off another boat. Ran fine the rest of the day and seemed to recharge the battery and restart just fine. Been sitting in the garage for 2 weeks and I went to check on the battery. Of course it was dead as a doornail, almost wouldn't even light up the "power" LED.Disconnected the battery and charged it on trickle charge for about 5 hours and then reconnected the battery the next day after work. Here is the problem; is powers up and all the other electrical works fine, turn the ignition and the starter spins, but it sounds as if it is not engaging the motor at all.Does this sound like there might be a simple solution to this problem like a gear that is hung open and won't engage or something? This is my first boat and I am really concerned about having these troubles on only the 4th trip to the water... Thanks!

[Paul Moir]

Your battery is most likely dead now. Discharging beyond a 50% charge on a lead acid battery damages them from sulfidation. Your battery does not spin the starter suddenly enough to get the bendix to fly up to engage the flywheel anymore.Try a new battery, and I expect you'll find your problem goes away. You need to find out why your battery is discharging and fix it if you don't want to be replacing the battery all the time.

[tjfreemanjr]

Since the boat was purchased new from a dealer 6 weeks ago, I assume most likely I would be able to get this taken care of by their service department for little or no charge?Thanks for the quick response.

[mrn714]

While I agree with the above, I will also teel you that your battory has failed as well. Low amps will cause the starter to overheat and fail to enguage flywheel. Suggest that you get it to POP and let them work on it due to warranty concerns. Other would be to put in a new battory (by spec) and try again.

[jim dozier]

Was this a new boat with a "new" battery or a used boat with a battery of unspecified condition. If it was the latter, you probably just need a new battery. If it was the former, take it back to the dealer. If it is used you might also squirt some oil on the starter bendix but as everyone above has said, a half dead battery won't spin up a starter bendix.

[tjfreemanjr]

The boat was purchased new from a dealer who installed new batteries. I took the battery to autozone to have them check it out and they told me the battery is fine, but needed to be charged (DUH). They chargeg it for free for me and when I hooked it up the motor turned over just fine.Good for now, but I still don't know what the problem is that is causing the battery to drain. I will be in touch with the service department where I bought the boat and getting them to look into it for me.Would it make sense to disconnect the hot wire for all the accessiories (like fish finder and radio) to see if one of them could be the cause? I don't even have the FF on the base and the radio has a power button itself.I just don't know what could be draining the juice!Thanks for all the helpful information. This forum is the best I have seen!

[Knightgang]

There are any number of items that could drain a battery when the engine is not running. If your boat is not already equiped, I would install a battery switch to turn your batteries off when your boat is not in use. Also, you may want to consider rigging your boat with two batteries and installing a dual battery switch. This way, you can always have a "fresh" battery just in case you have problems with one while on the water.I have a two battery set-up in my boat, and it helps on cold starts to have both batteries on. The extra juice turns the motor just a little faster for the startup.

[tjfreemanjr]

Here is my next question, there isn't a main switch to turn off the batteries, but there is a power switch on the dash. It seems to only control stuff like the lights and the flasher and troling motor. The radio for instance is wired straight to the battery and doesn't go throught any switch. Is this normal practice, or lazy installation? I would like to have a separate switch I could flip and turn all the juice off because my kids enjoy the boat almost as much when it is parked as when it is in the water...thanks