Starter wont disengage.

[Schnidly]

I own a 1988 Mercury 90 hp 3 cylinder outboard serial number 0B302485. Last year my son took the boat out and had a problem where the starter would not disengage and kept spinning while the motor was running and I believe when he disconnected the battery to kill the starter he fried my gages, alarm module, rectifier, and tachometer. Turning the key off did not work and that's why he disconnected the battery cables. The battery was about 5 years old so I believe it was low on voltage and welded the contacts of my starter solenoid together. I did replace the starter solenoid also. My question is how can the starter be shutdown in a case like this without pulling the battery cables and frying things electrically?

 

[subliminaltrips]

only way i could think is to pull the cable from the starter solenoid or put a quick disconnect on the wire to the solenoid that doesn't interrupt the rest of the boats power circuits. sounds like the bendix might have just stuck and then everything compounded... sucks

 

[gm280]

Hard to say which came first, the starter bendix sticking causing the starter solenoid to weld, or the starter solenoid welding causing the starter to remain running in the flywheel teeth. Either way it gets costly. Glad you have it all fixed now...