1999 225 Evinrude will not even turn over!!

[AntsGrady]

Hi Guys,<br />Well here goes. Beautiful day yesterday. 10 miles off shore catching black sea bass when I go to start the motor and nothing. All power appears to be good. I turn the key and I hear my normal "chirp" but the starter does not engage. Absolutely nothing happens. Had to get towed in. Didn't get to look at it to much yesterday as I had to head back home for the work week but I'll be looking this Friday and I was wondering if any of you guys had any ideas of what the problem could be and what tests I could do. Thanks in advance!!

 

[DJ]

Re: 1999 225 Evinrude will not even turn over!!

Check ALL the battery connections. Wing nuts on the battery won't cut it.<br /><br />Check the batt. connections on the engine too.

 

[Walker]

Re: 1999 225 Evinrude will not even turn over!!

Neutral safety switch? Blown fuse? Battery cables and connections? Bad Solenoid? Broken wire?......

 

[AntsGrady]

Re: 1999 225 Evinrude will not even turn over!!

Checked all my fuses and they are good. It's in neutral. I know the motor is getting power because the trim works. I'm running 2 batters. Switched power to either one and both but still no good. Didn't notice any loose connections on the motor either. Anyone know how I can test the ignition?

 

[Walker]

Re: 1999 225 Evinrude will not even turn over!!

The orange wire to the starter solenoid is the starter wire from the key switch. Put a meter on it and hit the key. See if your getting voltage to it.

 

[AntsGrady]

Re: 1999 225 Evinrude will not even turn over!!

Thanks!! Sounds good. I will have to try it on Friday. If anyone can think of some more tests I would appreciate it.

 

[AntsGrady]

Re: 1999 225 Evinrude will not even turn over!!

Does anyone know if there is a fuse from my battery to my motor? There are 2 fuses from my helm station to the power and they are ok. Didn't see any others directly to the motor.

 

[Walker]

Re: 1999 225 Evinrude will not even turn over!!

There is a fuse back on your motor. It will be in a little torpedo looking thing somewhere on the port side. I assumed you alrready checked it.

 

[AntsGrady]

Re: 1999 225 Evinrude will not even turn over!!

Ya never saw that one. Would the tilt still work? Add it to the list to check!!! I don't want my mechanic to charge me some crazy money for something stupid.

 

[R.Johnson]

Re: 1999 225 Evinrude will not even turn over!!

Pull the wire to the neutral start switch, short it to ground, see if the engine will crank over.

 

[AntsGrady]

Re: 1999 225 Evinrude will not even turn over!!

hhhmmmm....no idea which wire that could be. Can you tell me the color or some more detail? Thanks man!!!

 

[islandboat]

Re: 1999 225 Evinrude will not even turn over!!

I have the same motor. I'd look at the starter soleniod first because it easy to get at. Check for 12 volts at the "hot" side of the soleniod. Should have 12 volts anytime the batteries are on. Check for 12 volts at the orange wire on the soleniod when you turn the key to start. If you have voltage at both of these terminals then check voltage at the "output" side of the soleniod( wire that goes to the starter) when you turn the key. I use the small orange wire and main 12 volt feed wire for the starter button when I spin the motor for a compression test. No voltage passing throught the soleniod - bad soleniod. If you have no voltage at the small orange wire on the soleniod when you try to start, I'd go to the back of the ignition switch and look there.

 

[AntsGrady]

Re: 1999 225 Evinrude will not even turn over!!

Thanks trophy175 sounds like good stuff. I'm not the most mechanically inclined person but I'm learning. I do know how to use a volt meter so we'll see what happens on Friday when I get to check everything.

 

[AntsGrady]

Re: 1999 225 Evinrude will not even turn over!!

Well I went to the dock on Friday and turned the key. Low and behold it cranked. I spoke to my mechanic earlier in the week and he was going to take a look. I wanted to try these great suggestions but I also wanted to let him know what was going on as he sometimes doesn't get to look at my boat for 3 weeks. To my surprise he got to it in 2 days. Anyway I talked to him yesterday to find out what the problem was and he said he doesn't know since the problem went away. Said he bridged the positive with the yellow wire on the starter or selonoid. I forget. I'll check it today. Put the key in the on position and it turned over.From there on the key worked for many times and hasn't failed since. Point here is we don't know the problem as it appears to be inconsistent. May have to replace the ignition with the wiring harness as it's 25 years old and it may be the best place to start. I'll keep this up to date. Thanks again guys for all the suggestions I will continue to keep them in mind. Learning a lot here.

 

[Greg_E]

Re: 1999 225 Evinrude will not even turn over!!

When I have a problem that appears to "fix itself", and can't find the root cause, I try to replace the least expensive item that could cause the problem. If the mechanic didn't find any bad connections, I would take a very close look at the ignition switch and neutral safety switch and related wiring. If you don't find anything, maybe replace the least expensive item. I find the old analog multimeters set to low Ohms scale, work best for checking bad switches. If the switch contacts are bad, sometimes you can see the needle on the meter bounce around when the switch is actuated. It's difficult to see on a DMM, because the readout is in the process of updating when the switch is actuated, and you can't tell if it's bouncing around or just updating the readout. If your lucky, maybe you guess right and never have the problem again. If it does come back, at least you've eliminated one possible cause. Intermittent problems can be very frustrating to track down. If you don't do something to try to fix it, you will be no further along, the next time it happens....... and you know it will happen at the worst possible time.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: 1999 225 Evinrude will not even turn over!!

this is a 4 year old thread. if you have questions, please start a new thread.