Cranking Problems with 1990 Evinrude 150XP

[timbo52]

Went to the lake today put the boat in the water, when i was cranking my boat it would turn over and then just stopped. Wouldn't do anything. By the way I charged my batteries yesterday and the battery charger showed full charge. Couldn't even get the tilt to work so I thought it was the battery. Switched the battery to one of my trolling motor batteries. Same thing, would start cranking then stop. The battery gauge showed it still had a good charge on it but it was working. When i cranked it at home on a trailer, all went well. Even when I tried cranking it would just run the battery down and you could tell, but this time in the water it would just stop and not slow down if that makes sense. I am a newbie to boating but some experience with motors. Two things that came to mind for me was it lost ground or there is a naked wire somewhere. Also I recently added an onboard battery charger and this problem did not occur till after the installation. Thanks for your help

 

[DJ]

Re: Cranking Problems with 1990 Evinrude 150XP

Grounds are a major issue on outboards.

Remove the negative battery terminal from the engine block and clean it thoroughly. The bolt too.

 

[timbo52]

Re: Cranking Problems with 1990 Evinrude 150XP

thanks I will give that a try tomorrow. I guess when I added my charger and moved the connectors it lost the good connection it had. Looks like I will be visiting this forum more often.

 

[emdsapmgr]

Re: Cranking Problems with 1990 Evinrude 150XP

Do you have a hydraulic lock in the powerhead?

 

[timbo52]

Re: Cranking Problems with 1990 Evinrude 150XP

Like I say I am a newbie at boating and I don't know what a hydraulic lock is. What should I look for? And why would this be part of the problem?

 

[jonesg]

Re: Cranking Problems with 1990 Evinrude 150XP

Pull the sparkplugs and crank it a few seconds to find out.
If fluid shoots out its hydraulic locked.

Sounds more like bad grounds/cable corrosion etc because it cranked again when you switched batteries until a loose connection arced and it lost current flow again.

Sand connections shiny shiny clean, tighten and apply some LIQUID elec tape to seal them for the season. Its in the factory service book.
www.outboardbooks.com

 

[timbo52]

Re: Cranking Problems with 1990 Evinrude 150XP

Well went out cleaned the connections tried cranking did the same thing. Took the connection for the gauges and the other stuff off and just had the starter hooked up. It wanted to crank with no problem. hooked the gauge wires again, turn the key and it would start to crank then shut off and not do anything. so it is in my gauges somewhere. but now i cant get it to crank, it will turn over the starter engages then it will loose it and the starter will just spin problem with the starter?

 

[emdsapmgr]

Re: Cranking Problems with 1990 Evinrude 150XP

I'd have a look at the bendix before you condemn the starter. Are the teeth on the gear worn? Is the spring intact or broken? If the bendix is hard to move by hand, it may be dry. Some extremely light oil should be applied to the shaft the bendix rides on. If you use grease, it will get stiff in cold weather and will not activate properly.