No power to starter!

[Gill7858]

Flywheel turns with no problem. Even though I got the batteries tested and charged, my gauges read 10.4v and when I attempt to crank it, gauges go dim (sonetimes blank) and still just a click. Any other solutions??

[99yam40]

How are you testing batteries?
Still sounds like a battery problem if the voltage drops to 4 v at the battery

Have you used the jumper cables and battery out of your truck or car to see what that does like others have said?

[Gill7858]

I remove all my batteries from the boat, took them to autozone and they tested all of them.

I haven't connected it directly. To be honest I've never done that before so I don't know exactly how to and don't want to mess anything up.

There is a pos and negative going from the boat to the starter. Is it just plug it directly or what?

[99yam40]

Yes + to + and - to - at the motor.
Or even better hook - of battery to starter bolt holding starter on motor and + from battery touch the + post of the starter

How did you test volts at battery when you got 4 v?
Meter leads on the posts not the cables I hope as there is a connection between the two that can be bad

[jb123]

do you also have a batt selector/switch that can be bad / going bad ? bypass anything between motor and batt

[ohsoslow]

10.4volts is way too low, should be reading 12.5ish, Swap out battery for a known good one (out of your car etc) And try that. If it still doesn't start, then you've most likely got a wiring issue, such as a dodgy connection on your negative cable.

[danteknik]

to try it out with the jumper cables do like this

place a good battery or your car next to the motor now look at your starter.

in the top you will find the - connection coming strait from the battery and bolted to the housing/holding bracket of the starter.

the + connector is the smaller cable coming from the relay just below and connected to the crome bolt in the starter. clear ?

now take the one jumper cable and connect it to car/battry - and then to the top holding bracket of the starter. this in teory connects - to the whole powerhead metal mass. clear?

then the tricky part.
connect the other jumper cable to batt/car + and be carefull where the other end is! keep both end of jumper cable in your hands!
now sligthly tab the jumper cable to the chrome bolt with the + cable on the starter..

you dont want to make solid connection just tab it a few times an see if starter is turning and cranking the motor.. if not your starter is dead.
be aware that sparks may fly when you tab the chrome bolt because of high amp draw.

the click sound you hear is probably the rotor shooting up but the winding motion is bad/shorted hence the hefty amp draw

hopes this helps

[Gill7858]

You couldn't have been any more clear. I feel comfortable being able to do that now without harming anything in the motor. I really appreciate the step-by-step instruction so I'm going to try that now. If it is a starter that is dead do I have to buy a whole new starter or is it able to be rebuilt? Thanks a million

[99yam40]

An automotive starter /alternator shop should be able to test and let you know what is wrong with it and if it is repairable

[Tucker]

There all over the place on ebay. How'd you make out gill?

[Gill7858]

well I was able to test the starter with the jumper cables and just like everyone thought, starter is bad. found a shop that will rebuild it for about $100.

Now on to the BAD news, in order to test my starter I removed my number 3 battery which only has a charger and another pos/neg connection connected to it which goes to a box in the center console. The box (from what im told) turns 12v into 24v in order to operated the electric reel outlets i have on the boat. Now heres the fun part, after tested the starter, i placed the battery back into its position and conected the wires which i previsouly mentioned back to it, however mistakenly i inverted the pos/neg and the sparked. I immediately realized my mistake and corrected it. now the only problem is that Im not getting any power to my gauges or my engine trim/tilt motor.

I checked the two in line fuses by the wiring harness next to the gauges and they are both fine. Everything else on the boat works(lights, radios, trim tabs....) I checked voltage to everywhere ZI can think of including the engine in line fuse and the relay box, both of which were good. all the engine wires i checked were good to go. the only wire not getting any power whatsoever is the positive terminal that was going to the starter.

once again im up s$$t's creek without a paddle. Any suggestions?

[99yam40]

Things do not make sense as you said the battery and leads you crossed up did not go to the motor, only to the box for reel outlets. I do not see how that could cause a motor electrical problem

[Gill7858]

Exactly, well how about when I jumped the starter could that of fried something?

[99yam40]

Not if you disconnected the starter cable before jumping or did not jump to something besides the starter post, as there would be no electrical connection to anything else . The starter relay not being energized would not carry voltage past it to back feed

[Gill7858]

I didn't disconnect anything when I jumped it but I only jumped it to the pis post on the starter. Nothing else.