starter spins

[ky_boater]

Have a Force 120 that I had starter trouble with and eventually tried to rebuild it, but that didn't go so good. I went ahead and purchased a new starter. I hooked up the new starter and it fired the motor with no issues. I took it out to the lake and again it fired with no problems. The motor stalled at the lake and when I went to restart it, the starter just spinned. I ended up taking this starter back and purchasing a new one from a different company.

Once I got the 2nd new starter I hooked it up and again it fired. Took it back out to the lake and started and stopped it 3 or 4 different times with no issues. On about the 5th time restarting the engine I ran into the spinning issue again. I ended up just tapping the top of the starter (by the nut) a couple times with a screw driver and then it would engage the flywheel. I had to do this 3 or 4 different times throughout the day. I am wondering if I have another bad starter or if something needs to be done with the new starter such as lubing it up.

Thanks.

 

[jerryjerry05]

Re: starter spins

Check the charging of the system?
Test the regulator?
Is the battery week?

 

[ferdly1]

Re: starter spins

Check the charging of the system?
Test the regulator?
Is the battery week?

i do a lot of salt water fishing. From time to time my starter would do the same thing,spin without engaging the flywheel. I would lubricate the starter shaft with wd40 lightly. Dont use grease as that attracts dirt. My problem would happen after boat sat up a while. Also hopefully your new starter came with a new Starter Bendix.

 

[ky_boater]

Re: starter spins

Everything with the starter is new. The battery is good as it is only about a year old and will crank the motor with no issues.

I will try the shot of the wd40.

How do I check the charging of the system and the regulator?

Thanks.

 

[jerryjerry05]

Re: starter spins

Your starter is new,it shouldn't need any lube.
It comes from the rebuilder with a tiny bit of grease.
WD will eventually gum up and get sticky.
Also if yo get the inside of the bendix wet with WD it will ruin the rubber in the bendix.
If the bendix works after you tap on the starter? Then I'd take it back.
Take the battery and have it load tested just in case.
This is assuming all the connections are clean and tight.
I put a new starter on my port motor.It worked great first couple of times.
Then it started draggin.and not working right?? I thought the guy(me) who rebuilt it did something wrong.
So i pulled the cover and the nut holding the battery cable on wasn't tight enough.
When it was cold,not much contact.After it got warm it would work great.
Once I tightened it, it worked great.
Checking charging,volt meter on the battery.Check it and then start it and see how much voltage is going into the battery.
It needs to be reved up as it won't charge untill it's over2000 rpms(I think thats the rpms?)

 

[Jiggz]

Re: starter spins

I'm not really sure why others are hesitant to grease the flywheel and bendix gear although it is actually recommended in the Force maintenance manual. In your case, I would try lightly greasing the flywheel and bendix gear with bearing grease and see if that improves the situation. After two different brand new starters and still with the same symptoms obviously it is most likely not a starter problem but more with the flywheel and bendix not properly engaging. Remember these starters rely on centrifugal action to throw up the bendix gear and hopefully engages the flywheel while spinning and moving up. This is why it has beveled gear teeth. If it doesn't engaged, the bendix will still continue spinning and rubbing against the bottom of the flywheel. Releasing the ignition off start position the bendix should drop down to its starting position. If it doesn't you need to light grease the starter shaft also.

 

[ky_boater]

Re: starter spins

Thanks for all the replies. Is there a particular type of grease to use on the bendix?

Thanks.

 

[foodfisher]

Re: starter spins

Wd 40

 

[ferdly1]

Re: starter spins

Wd 40

If the starter spins Bendix should engage, unless Bendix is bad or shaft is dirty. Unless starter is out of alignment somehow. Not sure about boat motors but certain cars used shims on the starter. Look at teeth make sure teeth arent dinged up or missing. although if you have that problem it makes a racket. Make sure the ring isnt cracked at the welds. That starter ring is actually welded to flywheel-I have seen welds break. If starter is dragging check your power cables for corrosion. I had that problem on one outboard, even took starter in because starter was dragging so bad. Was told starter was fine. Cut the shrink tubing from battery cable, cable was solid green cut a few inches from cable now starter works great.

 

[steelyonfly]

Re: starter spins

I too have fixed my spinning starter by using a tad of grease on the shaft. Not a problem since, although, I also took apart the starter and cleaned it up, so you shouldn't need to do that. I'm no mechanic, so maybe I'm not someone to listen to. Just letting you know what I've done. It seems odd that 2 new starters from different places would give you the same problem. It certainly could be a low battery, too. My 2 cents.