120 Force Wont crank

[noodle83]

I have a 1995 120HP Force.Ok I went on the lake last week boat ran like a champ, put it on the trailer took it home. Went out the other night and it would barley crank I thought it was the battery chnged to a fully charged battery and even tried to jump with truck same thing tried to crank then it would pause and try again. I did get it spin like normal one time but I couldn't turn key and give it fuel at the same time but it would't do it again and starter was very hot from trying to hard.So I have been reading up on this problem and heres what I have done. Checked all conections new starter new starter solenoid removed lower unit and it still leaves me with same problem. I used to be able to start this motor with a rope but it just gets hung up from too much piston pressure. And if I remove the plugs and hit the starter it spins like a champ WTF? Please help.

 

[noodle83]

Re: 120 Force Wont crank

 

[robms6]

Re: 120 Force Wont crank

Get a voltage meter and make sure you have a good ground on the motor. I would touch the tester to the main ground lead bolted into the engine and the hot starter lug. Then I would test the ground that the Ignition grounds to. Hopefully It is a bad ground and not something worse. If you dont have a voltage tester you can pick one up at HD or lowes for less than $30. Buy a Digital one!

 

[eight tracker]

Re: 120 Force Wont crank

It sounds like its out of time or possibly a cylinder with water in it check compression of cylinders and look at the plugs,see if any are cleaner then the others may indicate water in cylinder.
tom

 

[noodle83]

Re: 120 Force Wont crank

thats what I was thinking was it might be out of time but how would that happen and how do you chech the timing on it?

 

[noodle83]

Re: 120 Force Wont crank

all plugs look good no indication of water in the cylinder all the pistons look good from what I can see throgh the holes. I can turn the flywheel with hand but if you try to turn quick with starter or rope its got a lot of pressure, I dont here anything bad going on inside like loose parts, Ive seen a couple other posts where people have had similar problems but nobody puts up what solved there problem.

 

[erikpn]

Re: 120 Force Wont crank

all plugs look good no indication of water in the cylinder all the pistons look good from what I can see throgh the holes. I can turn the flywheel with hand but if you try to turn quick with starter or rope its got a lot of pressure, I dont here anything bad going on inside like loose parts, Ive seen a couple other posts where people have had similar problems but nobody puts up what solved there problem.

I heard that's sometimes caused by a broken flywheel key. http://www.kichline.com/chuck/fixit/mowers/key.html

 

[brianvolt7]

Re: 120 Force Wont crank

Now that you have changed the starter, battery and starter solenoid did it start to crank over normally? Or do you still have a slow crank as indicated in your original post?

 

[noodle83]

Re: 120 Force Wont crank

No its the same slow crank I have even sanded all connections I just dont understand it, its driving me crazy.

 

[jerryjerry05]

Re: 120 Force Wont crank

Do a compression test.Then a spark test.Then the fuel system.J

 

[brianvolt7]

Re: 120 Force Wont crank

You mentioned you changed to a fully charged battery. Is this a battery out of a car you have? This battery may not have enough oomph to crank the motor. Using jumper cables from a running vehicle does not always do the trick either. If you have cleaned all of the lugs, changed the starter and solenoid and you are sure of the connections, it sounds like you should check your battery one more time.

It's possible that it is a cranking amp issue because of a bad battery or not enough battery. A battery can show fully charged on a charger or multi-meter (12-14 volts) and still be bad. If it is bad it may not have the proper amount of amps stored to crank the motor normally. I would recommend you have your battery tested to see if it is good or not.

 

[soflaguy]

Re: 120 Force Wont crank

I had similar starter issues and it stayed the same after new starter and solenoid. My battery cable had a cut from a bolt in the transom and the inside of the cable had become very corroded. My starter works great now but my boat still won't start. The starter is trying hard though. BTW, you couldn't see the tiny slit without looking under the cable. It was on the underside. Just a simple thing to check.

 

[erikpn]

Re: 120 Force Wont crank

Do a compression test.Then a spark test.Then the fuel system.J

Why on earth do you think the fuel system has anything to do at all with whether or not the starter can turn the flywheel?

 

[jerryjerry05]

Re: 120 Force Wont crank

erikpn who are you to question my posts??You don't get to critisize here.
I have been working on outboards since 1984 I post from my experience!!!
I also noticed you didn't contribute anything of your own.
Did you read the first part of my post? Then the second part?
You need comp/spark/fuel to make an outboard work.J

 

[jason32038]

Re: 120 Force Wont crank

Lol

 

[noodle83]

Re: 120 Force Wont crank

So I went and bought a brand new marine battery this morning and tried it out, and a little faster crank on the starter but not much doing the same crank pause a sec and crank. Well the starter I bought was froma guy on craigslist and he told me it was new and it looked brand new. So I went ahead and took it apart and OH MY GOD!!!! It was rusted and corroded every where, I spent and hour sanding it every little part from the part that spins to every screw nut and everything. Put it on the boat and cranked and started faster then Ive ever seen it since I bought it. I just wanted to tell all you guys thank you very much for all your posts its helped me out alot trouble shooting this whole motor. I am much more educated on how things work now.

 

[skiesdalimit]

Re: 120 Force Wont crank

well i am newbie to this boating thing but i had a similar problem and the way that the previous owner help me to fix it on my bayliner capri was checking every connection especially the grounds other then that check that all plugs are getting spark but it sounds like something simple yet hard to find start by wigglin all wired connections and fuses hope you get it going good luck

 

[erikpn]

Re: 120 Force Wont crank

erikpn who are you to question my posts??You don't get to critisize here.
I have been working on outboards since 1984 I post from my experience!!!
I also noticed you didn't contribute anything of your own.
Did you read the first part of my post? Then the second part?
You need comp/spark/fuel to make an outboard work.J

What is this? Who are you to get indignant at being questioned about some piece of irrelevant, generic advice after copy and pasting it in multiple threads without reading the OP's post at all?

Yes, I do get to criticize. This is a public forum, and that is the point of it. It is not jerry's personal box, does not belong to you, and is not yours. Are you such a sad friendless individual that your entire life and self esteem is centered around some inflated sense of self-importance amongst a bunch of strangers on the internet? The slightest amount of questioning to it sets you off?

Grow a thicker skin and develop some self esteem.

 

[jerryjerry05]

Re: 120 Force Wont crank

You evidently are looking for some kind of hostile recognition and suffer from CRI
People are trying to be helpful here.YOUR NOT
How would a flywheel key stop it from turning over??? You evidently know everything so everyone can stop posting but you.

 

[erikpn]

Re: 120 Force Wont crank

You evidently are looking for some kind of hostile recognition and suffer from CRI
People are trying to be helpful here.YOUR NOT
How would a flywheel key stop it from turning over??? You evidently know everything so everyone can stop posting but you.

Because it'd be delivering the spark at the wrong time, pushing the piston down when you want it to go up. You're copy and pasting the exact same response in every thread about motors that won't start, without even bothering to read the OP's question, and are now all huffy and indignant because you got called on it.