Yamaha Starter Motor Help Please

[Rudderman]

Hi, I'm having trouble with my starter motor...see attached thumbnail for summary of problem.

Inside the starter motor housing, down where the positive terminal bolt goes through the casing to connect with the brushes, is the bolt supposed to be brazed onto the brush wire or does it just rest beside it?
On mine, it seems to rest beside it, but its hard to know if maybe it is supposed to be a more solid contact (ie brazed or soldered or something)

I think this intermittent connection is causing the problem. When I disassemble the thing and then reassemble it, the motor works fine, then goes back to just clicking the relay. I know the relay is good cos I have tried a direct connection to the battery too.

Previous history of engine:
Yamaha F15 1998 model, four stroke electric start engine.
Engine was submerged while running 3 years ago, was cleaned out and has run perfectly ever since.

Recently, the starter motor has been giving trouble....when you press the start button, the relay clicks but the starter does not turn over at all.
I have the Clymers manual, so I disassembled the starter motor as per instructions and found the starter motor full of watery mucky gritty stuff.
I cleaned the whole thing meticulously, including brushes, armature etc, polished the commutator plate with really fine sandpaper.

Thanks for your help, this is a frustrating problem!

[JUSTINTIME]

it should be connected to the post

[Rudderman]

Thanks. The connection must have broken off at some point. I was able to braze it back on so it should be fine until I get the new brush kit arrives.