Re: Evinrude 25 HP Starter
charged backwards???
anyway, I don't think I would worry too much about the spinning direction of the bendix gear. You can effectively bench test the starter while its on the boat, but it's gutsy. Wear a pair of work gloves, and connect the positive clamp from a jumper cable to the positive post of the battery, then touch the other positive clamp to the post on the starter (ground wire connected to battery in normal fashion). You will get some nasty sparking, and could get some blackening at the contact point, but the bendix should snap up to the ring gear of the flywheel. If the gear snaps up into the flywheel, you know that you have a wiring issue on the positive side of the starting circuit. If it doesn't, the starter is likely at fault (windings, bendix gear, or something) and needs to be examined/repaired/rebuilt, or the motor (and starter) is not grounded. Before going further, tuck the positive clamps of the jumper cable out of the way, and ground the motor to the negative battery post using the negative clamps, and try firing up the starter the regular way (key or button). If THAT doen't work, use the jumper cables to directly connect both pos and neg sides of the starter. If you do that and get no results, and you know for sure the battery is hot, you can be sure the starter is a problem. Remember to wear gloves, keep a cool head, and make positive jumper connections very carefully