70 HP Mercury won't start, only clicking sound

[aturnage]

I have a 70 hp mercury that has been running great until two days ago. The engine started turning over and then just stopped. I feared a dead battery, until I replaced it with a fully charged one. The part that allows the motor to recharge was damaged, due to heat and I replaced it. Now everytime I turn the key to crank it all I hear is a click. I hear the electric choke engage, and I have verified power to everything by a test light. Also the trime works fine off of the same battery. All fuses are also intact. I also tried lightly tapping the starter to see if it was stuck. All to no avail. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.<br /> raturnage@yahoo.com

 

[petryshyn]

Re: 70 HP Mercury won't start, only clicking sound

Put your test-light from starter case to starter motor terminal.....attempt to crank.....does the testlight light? This will verify that power is or is not getting to the starter motor (a very crucial part of trouble shooting) If you have power to the motor, and it doesn't rotate, motor is bad. (commonly worn brushes) If no power to motor, check solenoid and related wiring and terminals.<br /><br />*use a voltmeter if you have one. Compare voltage at battery to voltage at starter motor while attempting to crank. If same, motor is bad, if different....solenoid or wiring......let us know.

 

[aturnage]

Re: 70 HP Mercury won't start, only clicking sound

OK, I don't know alot about engines, but I have the hot wire and ground wire coming from the battery and going to a black box inside the engine. This "box" has two main posts and behind those posts are two smaller posts. Does the main power wire from the battery run to the solenoid? Anyway, when I place the test-light on one of the smaller posts and attempt a crank, the light does light up. I am confused at how power gets to the starter motor though. I don't see any wires except for ones that look like ground wires. There are two of those. One at the top and one at the bottom. Thank you for your help. I really appreciate it.

 

[petryshyn]

Re: 70 HP Mercury won't start, only clicking sound

The two wires you see are the power and ground. The lower one is the power to the starter motor. It comes from the solenoid(black box you described) The upper one is a ground. Put your test light from one to the other and try cranking. <br /><br />Any power?<br /><br />

 

[Mike M2]

Re: 70 HP Mercury won't start, only clicking sound

Couple things, the clicking, is it the starter gear jumping up to the flywheel? Or is it the solinoid clicking? If you see the gear jump up, you know there's power to the starter. In this case you need to determine whether the engine just wont turn due to other problems, not allowing the starter to turn. If it's the solinoid clicking, take a screwdriver across the 2 large terminals(one from the battery, one to the starter) and jump it. Does it turn then? If so, replace solinoid.If the gear is engaging, and jumping doesn't turn it, and the engine can be turned by other means(like a socket on the flywheel bolt) then it's time to rebiuld the starter.