98 Merc 200 v6 wont start

[aquasport1998]

Hey folks. Put my Aquasport in the water last Friday for first time this season. Caught a couple of white trout and came home. Engine started and ran fine through the day. When I got home and was cleaning her up, I put the "boot" on the flush out the salt water and could not get the engine to turn over. Batteries are good. But no fire. I hear a whirring sound from the outboard when I turn the key, but doesn't turn over at all. New gas, fresh oil.
Any suggestions before I take her to the shop...ugh?
Ready to fish on the Gulf Coast.

 

[sschefer]

Re: 98 Merc 200 v6 wont start

Gonna take a shot here and interpret a whirring sound as the starter running but the engine not cranking. Pull the cover off and see if the starter is engaging. If it's not it's usually as simple fix.

 

[aquasport1998]

Re: 98 Merc 200 v6 wont start

thanks, sschefer. Hate to be completely stupid, but..... how do I find the starter?! And how do I know if it is engaging. Take pity on a newbie. I'm slowly learning my way around the motor. Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[shankforce]

Re: 98 Merc 200 v6 wont start

The starter is a long black tube with a brass toothed gear on top it is on the side of the motor under the flywheel which has a black cover on it. It sounds like you either have a ground that was disconnected or your starter is sticking. Look for a loose ground probally on the battery or could be on the starter. Or your starter is sticking you can spray it with wd-40 or simmular lube spray and move it up and down manually if it is in the flywheel move it back and forth untill it lets it loose.

 

[aquasport1998]

Re: 98 Merc 200 v6 wont start

Thanks Shank. Will try it this weekend.

 

[caddy]

Re: 98 Merc 200 v6 wont start

I just had the same problem this weekend. Went fishing to jetties, got back to dock and shut off motor to wait for turn to load. When it was my turn the engine would not start just heard the same noise. Pulled boat onto trailer and when I got home pulled cover off Mercury 115 and found starter running but brass gear not rising to meet flywheel. I tried some corrosionx and it started fine once but then problem occured again. I flushed engine when it ran. I will remove brass gear and clean up to see if that does the trick. I was a little worried about issue of motor not starting since it sounded like an electrical motor locked with power applied. But after reading this post and checking my motor with cover removed i felt a lot better. This is my first boat so this forum and info has been very helpful.

 

[aquasport1998]

Re: 98 Merc 200 v6 wont start

Hey Caddy, thanks for the post. Good to know someone else is in the same boat...ummm, no pun intended. Checked mine out today with a buddy eyeballing it too. Brass gear on starter is not engaging the fly wheel. It is spinning but not lifting up. So, what do you guys think? Replace the starter? Have it rebuilt? Or could it be a problem with enough power to the starter (though the volt meter indicates enough voltage). Or....something else a newbie would have no clue about?
Like Caddy, this is my first boat. The wisdom of the old salts is much needed and appreciated.

Hoping to disprove the old adage that BOAT stands for bring out another thousand.

 

[sschefer]

Re: 98 Merc 200 v6 wont start

If it's whirring really nice then you just need to pull the starter off, remove the gear, remove the burr from the shaft end, clean it up, grease it and put it back together.

If it's running slow then take it off and take it to any autoparts store and have it tested. If it's bad, you can either replace it or rebuild it yourself (least expensive).

If it's good then you have a wiring problem you need to deal with.

Sometimes what you really need is someone behind a counter to give you that convincing yea or nay... I often fall back on it and invariably meet one of the local mechanics doing the same thing.

 

[aquasport1998]

Re: 98 Merc 200 v6 wont start

Thanks for the help guys! Was the starter. Pulled it...well actually a friend pulled it and took it to a local shop for rebuild.
I'm sure I'll be back with other questions and maybe some day insight for others. Happy boating.

 

[caddy]

Re: 98 Merc 200 v6 wont start

On my 115 I took the starter drive gear and inspected it. Found metal wear on the inside which was causing the gear to stick to starter and not spin up to meet the flywheel. I ordered a replacement starter drive on iboat for about 40 including shipping. It arrived this weds. but I did not have time till today to install. After greasing and installing it I tried to start motor and drive gear rose to meet the flywheel as it is supposed to do. Thanks to iboats forum I was able to fix my problem for $40.