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A friend of mine has a 1977 Johnson 35 horse outboard, it has electric start but has never worked properly. When the engine is warm it starts with no effort. When the engine is cold the starter will not turn it enough to get it running, the battery is new the wiring has been changed and the starter is new thinking the old one was bad. Anything I could pass along to him would be appreciated.
How does he get the motor warmed up if it won't start when cold? Could have burn't contacts inside the starter solenoid. Just because it clicks does not mean its good.
I'd go with Bill on the solenoid. One thing you could do is being very careful around the flywheel, disconnect plug wires so she dosnt dry fire hook a good jumper cable to positive side of battery and jump straight to stud on starter. That should eliminate anything between battery and starter. If she spins over good that way, backtrack all the connections back to battery starting with replacing solenoid. Also make sure all your ground connections are good, clean and no corrosion. If all else fails take it by Jones trolling motor in Little Rock. John is a sponsor here and he will help you out. He has all the tools and knows how to do all the checks. He can also rebuild starters.
You can use the pull start to get it going it just wears your arm out. When cold the starter acts like there's to much compression and won't spin it fast enough. When it's warm it starts after about a quarter turn with the starter.
Google "voltage drop test". Its pretty easy to do and you will be able to pinpoint the problem.
Thanks, I'll let him know he's in Texas cussing at it now.
I'm in Texarkana, not Little Rock, but close. My first impression is dirty or bad connections. Could be at the battery, could be at the powerhead (ground) or the starter including the solenoid. Also, dirty, worn, rotted, corroded leads from the battery to the outboard will cause the same problem. The motor requires more amps to start when cold then hot and either the pathway from the battery to the starter isn't carrying the amps needed, or the battery isn't capable of supplying the amps needed to start when cold.
John