Turn key nothins happening please help!

brandonl87

Seaman Apprentice
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Apr 15, 2013
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Hey guys sorry new here and really need help on this. its a 93 johnson 30HP eletric start. turn the key and i get nothing no sounds or anything. i jump the starter from the battery and it works. I checked the 20amp fuse looks good still no burns on it. Key switch is less than 2months old. I bypassed the saftey switch to see if it was the issue and still nothing. Also it is a brand new battery less than 48 hours old.the key switch has a choke on it and when you push it in you can here the choke click. if that helps any. Please help me out on this one. also i cleaned the battery connections and i looked at the red plug didnt seem to be correded at all on the points.
 

Bosunsmate

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Apr 7, 2012
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Re: Turn key nothins happening please help!

put a jumper direct from the battery on to the little positive terminal on the starter solenoid, (make sure its the positive and not the other little one that goes to ground).
If that starts it there is a issue somewhere between that wire and your key switch, if not you have a problem in the solenoid or your battery/starter cables
 

Solittle

Fleet Admiral
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Apr 28, 2002
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7,518
Re: Turn key nothins happening please help!

Your description points to bad cables & you need to check them further or swap & check. Cables can look OK on the outside & be green mush inside.
 

brandonl87

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Apr 15, 2013
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Re: Turn key nothins happening please help!

put a jumper direct from the battery on to the little positive terminal on the
starter solenoid, (make sure its the positive and not the other little one that goes to ground).
If that starts it there is a issue somewhere between that wire and your key switch, if not you have a problem in the solenoid or your battery/starter cables

Ok so i got home and tried this. The little wire on top of the soleniod that goes to the plug not the ground one. Jumped it to that wire and nothing happens. But i jumped the bigger red wire on the bottom of the solenoid and it cranks the motor. So what does that mean?
 

gm280

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Jun 26, 2011
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Re: Turn key nothins happening please help!

You stated that you looked at the 20 amp fuse and it LOOKED good. But did you actually measure across it? It could be a bad fuse and/or connections going to that fuse holder or out of it too... Also you stated that you shorted across the kill switch. How did you do that? Shorting across some of those kill switches will short the points and never allow the engine to run...
 

Bosunsmate

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Re: Turn key nothins happening please help!

Ok so i got home and tried this. The little wire on top of the soleniod that goes to the plug not the ground one. Jumped it to that wire and nothing happens. But i jumped the bigger red wire on the bottom of the solenoid and it cranks the motor. So what does that mean?

It means that its not just your starting switch/wiring thats faulty ( it may be showing its not your starting switch wiring at all).

Put a jumper from the battery +ve to where the postive one from the battery attaches the solenoid and try again if that doesnt work then its your solenoid or key switch/wiring.
To test that use your multimeter on that little +ve you jumped originally and the other to ground, turn the key on if you get a change to very little reistance then its the solenoid thats the problem
 

Bosunsmate

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Re: Turn key nothins happening please help!

If you dont have a multimeter take the little wire off the top of the solenoid thats a positive, attach it to a torch light bulb or anything you have that runs 12v. Put the other end to ground on the motor. Turn the key to start ie as if to turn the starter( not just to on but to crank the starter) and if the light glows, your switch and wiring is fine
 

brandonl87

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Apr 15, 2013
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Re: Turn key nothins happening please help!

Hey bosun, ok so i jumped to where the battery hooks up to the solenoid it works. Used a meter to test the little terminal and it goes from 137 turn the key jumps to 188. And the 20amp fuse i checked reads 12.84v
 

Bosunsmate

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Re: Turn key nothins happening please help!

If you are saying you jumped from the battery to where the battery cable hooks up to the solenoid and you turned the key and it works then as Admiral SoLittle says you need to change your battery cable
 

brandonl87

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Re: Turn key nothins happening please help!

Ok cool,ill change that out today after work. Thank you for the help. Just for my info for later use if it wasnt the battery cable. It would be the key switch/ wiring? So then you would replace the key switch ? How would you test the key switch
 

Silvertip

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Re: Turn key nothins happening please help!

You test anything electrical with your meter. don't know what your readings were in the previous post because 137 means nothing without a designator for what you were measuring. You test a fuse using the RESISTANCE feature on your meter. Remove the fuse, set the meter to read resistance. Put the leads on each end of the fuse. If the fuse is open the meter reads infinity. If it is good it will read 1 on a digital meter or a very low resistance on an analog meter. Before you poke around, learn how to use it -- especially how to measure voltage. Current flows from the battery pos to the starter solenoid. Another smaller wire on that same terminal runs via the engine harness to the ignition switch. From the ignition switch START terminal back to the small terminal on the solenoid, to ground on the engine and back to the battery via the large negative battery cable.

So with the meter set to read DC volts, place the negative lead on the battery. Have someone turn the key to START and touch the POSITIVE meter lead to the small terminal on the starter solenoid. If 12 volts is present on the solenoid the solenoid is bad or it is not grounded. If you don't read +12 volts work backwards to the 'S' (start) terminal on the switch. If you have power there the wire between the swtich and the solenoid is broken or there is a bad connection. Remember, any connectors between the switch and engine can have intermittent or corroded contacts so separate the connectors and clean then. If no power at The "S" terminal move to the "B" terminal on the switch. If there is power on the "B" terminal but not on the "S" terminal with the key in START, then the switch is bad. If there is no power on the "B" terminal then the problem is the RED wire between the "B" terminal and the engine or at the engine. The fuse at the engine feeds this wire so make sure it is good.
 

brandonl87

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Apr 15, 2013
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Re: Turn key nothins happening please help!

Well guys i was reading it wrong. So far i jumped from batt + to little terminal on the starter solenoid. Turn the key nothing. So i read the top little post its reading 12.84v so is the solenoid not grounded? Its a new solenoid. Also i just tried switching the two wires on top of the solenoid and it actually turned on and cranked an was running turned it off and tried agaianed then it popped the 20amp fuse. Which i thought it would do. Does that mean that the ground wire is messed up somewhere?
 
Last edited:

Bosunsmate

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Apr 7, 2012
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6,135
Re: Turn key nothins happening please help!

Yep, most likely. Ground it nearby and be careful you dont start it in gear when you dont want too. It may be a neutral gear switch thats doing that fault, trace the wire to where it goes from the ground on the little one on the solenoid
 

brandonl87

Seaman Apprentice
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Apr 15, 2013
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30
Red plug wiring harness anyone?

Red plug wiring harness anyone?

Hey guys, Well found the issue.Theres a break somewhere in the external harness. I cut the harness to look at the wires. 3 of them are just green mush. and the red wire is about the same. Problem is that they no longer make the one for my motor. Where can I find one that will work? VJ30ELETA is the model number.
 

pn

Petty Officer 1st Class
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Apr 20, 2013
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374
Re: Turn key nothins happening please help!

solittle called it
 
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