HighTrim
Supreme Mariner
- Joined
- Jun 21, 2007
- Messages
- 10,486
Re: 1984 115 Johnson starting issue
Joe pretty much has it covered as usual, but something else I have found is that jumper cables with the "teeth" have given me trouble. Not enough contact area. Once I used my home made cables made with 2 gauge welding cable and flat ring connectors, she spun over like mad. The surface area of the teeth contact to the starter bolt was too small to get proper voltage flow.
That doesnt solve you issue when the battery is wired on the boat though. Did you physically remove ALL the connections I talked about, filing them with a file or dremmel, and re tighten them? THey might look clean, but this is good practise to do EVERY spring. Another thing to do is voltage drop test on the wiring.
Put you MM on DC Volts, then put the red probe on the POS battery post, the black lead on the starter POS post. Crank the engine while observing the meter. Reading on voltmeter should be less than .2 volts. If it is greater then .2 volts, you have found your problem.
Then connect the red probe to POS battery post, and black probe to POS battery cable clamp. Then check for voltage drop at this connection. If it is greater than .2 volts, your problem is at the connection.
Continue doing this across every length of wire, and across all components, and across all connections.
You also need to check the ground circuit. With black lead of the multimeter touching the NEG battery post (not the cable end), and the red lead touching the case of the starter, crank engine while watching the voltmeter. Reading on voltmeter should be less than .2 volts. If reading is more than .2 volts check components in the ground circuit.
Let us know what you find.
Joe pretty much has it covered as usual, but something else I have found is that jumper cables with the "teeth" have given me trouble. Not enough contact area. Once I used my home made cables made with 2 gauge welding cable and flat ring connectors, she spun over like mad. The surface area of the teeth contact to the starter bolt was too small to get proper voltage flow.
That doesnt solve you issue when the battery is wired on the boat though. Did you physically remove ALL the connections I talked about, filing them with a file or dremmel, and re tighten them? THey might look clean, but this is good practise to do EVERY spring. Another thing to do is voltage drop test on the wiring.
Put you MM on DC Volts, then put the red probe on the POS battery post, the black lead on the starter POS post. Crank the engine while observing the meter. Reading on voltmeter should be less than .2 volts. If it is greater then .2 volts, you have found your problem.
Then connect the red probe to POS battery post, and black probe to POS battery cable clamp. Then check for voltage drop at this connection. If it is greater than .2 volts, your problem is at the connection.
Continue doing this across every length of wire, and across all components, and across all connections.
You also need to check the ground circuit. With black lead of the multimeter touching the NEG battery post (not the cable end), and the red lead touching the case of the starter, crank engine while watching the voltmeter. Reading on voltmeter should be less than .2 volts. If reading is more than .2 volts check components in the ground circuit.
Let us know what you find.
