starting help needed for a 200 merc

[1fife]

i have a 2001 merc 200 efi. After getting out of storage, it wont start. Took off starter and dealer said it was bad. Bought a new one and still wont start. Checked selinode and according to manual-its good(i hooked it to A 12 12 v battery and it clickes-which it says its good if that happen). This is what happen-starter spins , but doesnt kick up to turn motor over. any advice?

[jpollman]

If the motor spins up when voltage is applied but it doesn't engage the bendix is the problem. If you can get it apart and lubricate it that may solve the problem.

Good luck!

John

[k8vol]

have you looked to see if the battery is hooked up right it chould be the cables are on wrong and the starter is spining the wrong way ?

[1fife]

pretty sure battery is hooked up right

what is the bendix? is that on the starter? im slight mechanically inclined, but call myself avg(maybe below)
EXPLAIN MORE IF POSSIBLE-:)

[jpollman]

Oh sorry, I didn't think about that. :)

The Bendix is the gear on the end of the starter that engages the flywheel. It is basically mounted on a cam. When the starter motor spins up, it throws the gear upward to contact the flywheel. As long as there's pressure from the starter it will stay engaged. Once the motor starts, the flywheel spins fast enough that allows the bendix to drop away and back to its resting position. If that isn't lubricated enough it can stick and not work correctly.

Hope this helps.

John

[Sportfishermans SVC]

Check the condition of your battery, and check your battery connections for corrosion. It is not uncommon to find that your cables are corroded, or that you have a weak or poorly charged battery this time of year. The result is that the voltage getting to the starter is low and it does not engage. Check all your grounds and the power to the starter to make sure the connections are tight.

It sounds like you put a new starter on already but if not then try spray lube on the aforementioned bendix area and see if that helps. If you did buy a new starter and you find that the problem is one of the above listed items, reinstall your old starter and see if it works and if it does take it back to the shop you bought it from.

[1fife]

i did put in a new starter

wouldnt the bendix be lube on the new starter?

[jpollman]

Ahh, a point I missed or at least didn't think about. You are correct, the new starter should have worked if it was a bendix problem. At this point I'd be looking at the cables and battery. If it were a poor connection issue at the starter end that would have probably been solved when you installed the new starter. But as was previously stated, maybe the connections on the battery end are corroded. A couple more questions may help narrow it down...

How old is the battery?

You said the motor is a 2001. If the battery also is an '01 I'd be willing to bet that it's weak. Even fully charged it may not have the capacity that it needs.

Do you have the new or old starter installed now?

If you've got the new one in there now, I'd take the old one to a starter shop and they can check it for you. If you've got the old one reinstalled, I'd take the new one back where you bought it and tell them that it wasn't needed because it did the same thing when you installed the new one. I hope you can return it because a lot of places have signs stating "No returns on electrical parts". But if it was the dealer and they checked your old one and they told you it was bad I think you have a case to return it because the new one is doing the same thing.

I'll keep chewing on this one and see if I can come up with any more ideas.

Good luck!

John

[roger23]

http://www.michigan-sportsman.com/photopost/data/500/medium/106-057.jpg

This may be a picture of your starter the Bendix is the gear and assembly on the end of starter. You can test it by removing from motor clamp lightly in vise or put on floor place your foot on it hook hot lead to terminal tap ground to othet terminal or ground when voltage is applied the starter will rotate and gear will extend. Just tap it don't hard wire it.you can run it with a remote starter switch if you have one cost $5 may be. good luck;)

[1fife]

im starting to think its the selinoid

i had a buddy come over and crank key as i put my multimeter on selinode-it registered 6.5 v

since before selinoid it read 12v-im guessing(yes a guess) that may be the problem. Maybe a contact or something(heard its a coil in it)-is slightly bad and not comepletely bad

[roger23]

I would take the battery out take to any place that sells batteries and have them run a load test on it.it might have proper voltage But a load test will let you know if you have a bad cell ;)

[kingfisher 11]

This may have been covered but I had this happen when my 115 hp Merc was 2 years old. I put the battery in one spring and all it would do is click and not engage. I even posted question on this forum about what to look for. I finally got in and started digging around the battery. Since it was a new boat I did not know as much about it. What I found was there are two cables that connected to each post of the battery. I had connected the big main cable but I did not connect the smaller cable. Which was laying out of my sight so I missed it. Not sure if it was positive or Negative. Just missing this smaller cable did the same thing. I felt like a fool once I found it. I was happy after the shame wore off.