Starter not cranking

M

matthewl16

Cadet
Joined
May 24, 2007
Messages
11
good aftenoon I have a 1989 Mercruiser 3.0, I was on the water a few days ago and went to pull anchor and restart after sitting for about an hour and the starter solenoid clicked and the voltage guage dropped to about 11.5-12v but no cranking i assumed a dead battery but I cleaned all the battery and starter contacts just in case and and after about 4-5 turns of the key the thing fires right up. I brought her home and replaced the battery wires but I'm still having the same problem. I've been told that my starter is going and I need to replace it but I'm not looking foward to spending $200 on a new starter. I've herd that I can pull the starter and clean the brushes and misc. parts I'm wondering it there is rebuild kit out there for this starter and if any one has had any success taking these apart
thanks
-Matt
 
88wellcraft

88wellcraft

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
May 9, 2007
Messages
208
Re: Starter not cranking

Possibly the starter solenoid. Same thing happened on our 7.4 ltr merc. They get corroded inside and just start clicking when you turn the key until it makes a connection. Eventually it won't make the connection and you'll be stranded.
 
W

wakeboarddude

Seaman Apprentice
Joined
May 21, 2007
Messages
36
Re: Starter not cranking

Starters are generally an easy rebuild. Take apart, brush all the rust out, make sure the shafts and bendix are lightly greased, re-assemble. Could be that your starter is rusty which makes its stick when you try and turn it over. I have rebuilt 2 starters with this problem so far this season. Could also be the solinoid, if you have a repair manual it'll tell you the procedures to test this. See if you can find a good starter rebuild shop around, they'll be your best bet for parts or any work your not comfortable with.
Good luck
 
Liquid_force

Liquid_force

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
May 7, 2003
Messages
318
Re: Starter not cranking

I had the same sort of problem on two different boats recently.
On my bro in law's '94 4.3 merc - after running fine for a few minutes, we turned it off to drop a skier, hit the key - nothing - then got a strong electrical smell. I went through the basics - the breaker had tripped - didn't look good at all to me.
My bro in law knew a mechanic that was in the area and had him come out -- he put some torque (with pliers) to the wing nuts on the battery holding the cables -- it started right up and he hasn't had an issue since.
Really surprised me that was all it was. I had of course checked the cables too. Didn't CRANK them down, but they felt good and snug.

With my boat - '89 4.3L OMC. It had been turning over slow for the whole season last year, and towards the end of the year it would occasionally not want to turn over at all. Two or three tries and it would finally (sluggishly) turn over and start. We got the same results with 2 or 3 different batteries, of varying states of charge.
Batt cables looked good, but were a little corroded at the starter.

We decided a new starter would be the best bet to solve the problem.
Found a new one on ebay for $85 shipped. Fairly easy to install, and it turns over strong every time now. Well worth the cost.
 
M

matthewl16

Cadet
Joined
May 24, 2007
Messages
11
Re: Starter not cranking

thanks for all the good advise I'm going to pull her off and have a shop rebuild it
-matt
 
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