NEW starter and battery- Not won't turnover

[RWestman]

Boat is a 1998 Bayliner 1850LS 3.0L 4-cyl gas engine

This Spring the boat lift failed with boat on the lift. Of course the drain plug was out and the lift and boat bottomed out. The engine compart was about 1/3 full of water. I drained the water, replaced the oil and filter. The started worked most of the time, but occassionally would only have the solenoid click. If I kept trying the starter would kick in and start. I replaced the started/solenoid combinbation and a new battery. Now the solenoid ONLY clicks and there is no attempt in the starter trying to engage.

The old starter had three lugs on it. One for the switch wire, another for the battery wire, and the third was pre-wired going to the starter. The new new has four lugs. One for the switch wire, another for the battery wire, one pre-wired going to the starter, and according to the company the fourth is used on OLD systems needing a wire going to the coil. I was told to leave this lug empty.

Any ideas or suggestions? I can send pictures if that would help anyone.

Ron

 

[ufm82]

Re: NEW starter and battery- Not won't turnover

I would be checking grounds and all other connections, particularly the positive cable to the starter and the ground from the engine to the battery. If these are corroded you can have this issue. With the water intrusion it will accelerate the corrosion process and cause issues. This is of course assuming the engine itself is OK.

UFM82

 

[chaparall villain 2]

Re: NEW starter and battery- Not won't turnover

i agree but i would also check to make sure the starter gear hasnt engaged the flywheel and stuck .. if it has it wont do anything ... i would check the connections first and if still no start i would loosen the starter bolts and make sure it isnt stuck engaged if it is you might get a thin shim and shim it . i have had a starter that didnt have shims in it need one when i replaced it

 

[xltier]

Re: NEW starter and battery- Not won't turnover

Boat is a 1998 Bayliner 1850LS 3.0L 4-cyl gas engine

This Spring the boat lift failed with boat on the lift. Of course the drain plug was out and the lift and boat bottomed out. The engine compart was about 1/3 full of water. I drained the water, replaced the oil and filter. The started worked most of the time, but occassionally would only have the solenoid click. If I kept trying the starter would kick in and start. I replaced the started/solenoid combinbation and a new battery. Now the solenoid ONLY clicks and there is no attempt in the starter trying to engage.

The old starter had three lugs on it. One for the switch wire, another for the battery wire, and the third was pre-wired going to the starter. The new new has four lugs. One for the switch wire, another for the battery wire, one pre-wired going to the starter, and according to the company the fourth is used on OLD systems needing a wire going to the coil. I was told to leave this lug empty.

Any ideas or suggestions? I can send pictures if that would help anyone.

Ron

have you checked the slave solenoid to see if it is sending a full 12 volts to the starter.

 

[NHGuy]

Re: NEW starter and battery- Not won't turnover

I agree on the possible stuck starter drive gear against the flywheel. Also make sure you have a full charge in the battery and clean connections. You say the engine compartment got water 1/3 of the way up. How is the engine oil looking? If you can get a starter click and no crank make sure no water is in the cylinders. If it still won't crank you might want to pull the drive to see if it is seized and wont turn.

 

[ChrisCraftJohnny]

Re: NEW starter and battery- Not won't turnover

A GM Mechanic of 40 years told me....

Always use the shim. Even if the original did not. If you have it, use it.

I have followed his advise for 15 years and every GM starter I ever replaced never ground or whined out.

Johnny

 

[RWestman]

Re: NEW starter and battery- Not won't turnover

I cleaned all the connections. Positive and negative on the battery. All the connections on the soleniod. I still only got the click on the soleniod. I removed the starter/soleniod and laid it on the floor. Tried the starter and I still only get a click. I replaced the new starter/soleniod with the old starter/soleniod. I only get a click with it also, even when it is laying on the floor.

The volt meter on the dash shows a good voltage and barely drops when I try to start the engine. I put a charger on the battery and it took a full charge in less an hour.

I traced the positive cable from the battery and I don't see anything attached prior to the connection on the soleniod. I am assuming the starter switch is good because when I go to start it does cause the click on the soleniod.

The old starter/soleniod has three lugs for connections. Two large lugs and one small lug. One large lug is pre-wired from the soleniod to the starter. The other large lug is for the positive wire from the battery and two other wires. The small lug has one wire and I assume is the switch wire.

The new starter/soleniod has four lugs. A second small lug. According to the company it is used by old systems and would be contacted to a coil. The company told me to leave it empty.

Are there any fuses to check or anything else I can look at?

On a side-note, does this boat have a fuse box? I looked and I don't see one. I also don't see any circuit breakers under the bank of switches on the dash.

Thanks ahead of time,

Ron

 

[haulnazz15]

Re: NEW starter and battery- Not won't turnover

I would go get a new battery cable for $5-10 as my next step since you tried both starters.

 

[RWestman]

Re: NEW starter and battery- Not won't turnover

To test the positive cable from the battery to the soleniod I ADDED a 12 guage wire from the battery to the soleniod. Still ONLY a click.

Ron

 

[RWestman]

Finally got someone to help me

Finally got someone to help me

I finally got someone to help me with the boat. I was able to discover it is NOT the soleniod that is clicking, but instead the Slave Soleniod (at least I am assuming this is a Slave Soleniod. It is bolted onto the engine block behind cyclinder 3 and 4).

Questions:

Can it be cleaned?

Can I short the wires on the larger of the two lugs to see if the starter will work?

Any suggestions?

Thanks ahead of time,

Ron

 

[RWestman]

Re: NEW starter and battery- Not won't turnover

I first want to thank everyone who made suggestions. Without this link:

http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=167035

I am sure it would have taken much longer.

The problem turned out to be where switch wire was attached to the soleniod. Not sure if it was miscommunication or what, but I was told by the company I bought the starter/soleniod from to put the switch wire on a certain lug. After following the steps on the above link we decided it had to be the swtich wire. We moved it to the other open lug and the boat started right off.

Thanks again to EVERYONE for the help and I highly recommend people with starter problems look at the above link.

Ron