Woke my 79 Merc from a 4 yr sleep ...help

[GreenMonster]

Hey guys - I am a true novice here and have my first "project" boat. It has a 1979 Merc 90hp outboard and after cleaning up the wiring and cleaning the plugs I had to get a battery since it did not come with one. I hooked it all up and the battery does not seem to give it enough crank to turn the flywheel fast enough. I took out a few spark plugs and it spins faster but not enough. I then used jumper cables from my truck and connected it directly to the starter and that alone was not enough, however when I turned the key and hit the starter with cables from my truck it was plenty of crank and turned over. What should I look at for causing the starter to not get enough juice from the battery alone? I looked up the battery size in the book at the store and it says its the right marine battery. Any help would be much appreciated ....thanks

 

[oldgradywhite]

Re: Woke my 79 Merc from a 4 yr sleep ...help

have you batt checked out at a autozone if its good then that would point to the starter.

 

[GreenMonster]

Re: Woke my 79 Merc from a 4 yr sleep ...help

Its a brand new battery and the starter did work when hooked up to the battery and when I gave it some extra volts from my truck. Do you think the battery cable being a little old and frayed be the issue? But it would not start without the help of both batteries.

 

[douglas1978]

Re: Woke my 79 Merc from a 4 yr sleep ...help

have you put the battery on a charger since you bought it? When i bought mine from farm and fleet it crank the motor i was working on the started to slow down hook up my fancy charger said the battery was at 25%, after the charge it was good to go and yes i would replace any frayed or damaged wires

 

[GreenMonster]

Re: Woke my 79 Merc from a 4 yr sleep ...help

I will try that - I will have to pick up a battery charger this week.