Need some input I am baffled.

Alright guys I am stuck on a problem so thought i would get some fresh minds perspective on it. I am an auto.mechanic by trade so this i have a hard time asking for help on mechanical issues but i am at my ends here and dont have much hair left to pull out.
I have a 2003 Mercury 225 hp Optimax on my Ranger that wont hardly start cold first time of the day.It cranks really
slow. Once it starts that first time it pops off the rest of the day with barely a touch of the button.
Heres what i have done and checked so far. Battery Brand new in September 1050 cca. Starter tests good and i took it to a starter repair shop anyway just for my piece of mind and they tore it apart and said brushes and armature look good. i had them put a new solenoid on it while there also.
Ran voltage tests at battery while cranking and have 11.5 volts cranking at battery. Tested at starter while cranking and get 6.5 volts at starter. So i know i have a voltage drop but i cant for the life of me figure out why. Ohm tested the battery cables from engine to battery and they test good.
Has anyone had anything like this happen? The baffling part is how it will only do it the one time cold every trip.
Thanks for any ideas and input.

I am thinking that you have a bad cable or ground. You can run an ohms test on them and they sometimes read fine on the scale but do not have enough wires making contact to handle the high current draw when starting. I would pull off the ground cable at the motor block and clean it and see if that corrects the voltage drop. the motor
If You still have a voltage drop at the starter you can check your cables with your voltmeter to fin out which one it is
Positive Cable---#1 Set test meter to DC volts range that will measure Zero to 12 volts
#2 Connect + lead of meter to + terminal on battery
#3 Then connect - lead of tester to the other end of the positive cable at the starter.
# turn key to start motor while watching the volt meter. If you get a reading of more than 1 volt the cable may be going bad. A good cable the reading is Zero.

Negative cable..... Connect - test lead to - battery post / Then connect +test lead to the other end of cable at motor ground.
Repeat key start and observe volt meter.

I have found cables that have corroded inside the insulation and particularly inside the cable end terminals that appear to be fine.
I hope this helps you out.
Send me a PM if you need. dfar

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dfar

I am thinking that you have a bad cable or ground. You can run an ohms test on them and they sometimes read fine on the scale but do not have enough wires making contact to handle the high current draw when starting. I would pull off the ground cable at the motor block and clean it and see if that corrects the voltage drop. the motor
If You still have a voltage drop at the starter you can check your cables with your voltmeter to fin out which one it is
Positive Cable---#1 Set test meter to DC volts range that will measure Zero to 12 volts
#2 Connect + lead of meter to + terminal on battery
#3 Then connect - lead of tester to the other end of the positive cable at the starter.
# turn key to start motor while watching the volt meter. If you get a reading of more than 1 volt the cable may be going bad. A good cable the reading is Zero

Negative cable..... Connect - test lead to - battery post / Then connect +test lead to the other end of cable at motor ground.
Repeat key start and observe volt meter.

I have found cables that have corroded inside the insulation and particularly inside the cable end terminals that appear to be fine.
I hope this helps you out.
Send me a PM if you need. dfar

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X2 on ground.

Bad cable or loose connection.

It only takes one strand to look good on a meter, but when you try to put hundreds of amps through the cable it can't handle it.

The lugs on the ends of the battery cables can corrode inside where you can't see it and cause that problem. You can pinpoint the problem doing a voltage drop test. There are a lot of videos on You Tube showing how to do this.

My 225 ETEC did this exact same thing!! I mean to a Tee!! my mechanic tore the starter apart. A braided wire that connects the brushes to the starter had burt in too where they made a crimped end. take the starter back apart, and look at this wire. we ran all new ground wires, voltages, ohms, and omg's.

If you are measuring the 6.5 volts after the relay I would be concerned about the relay ground or the relay. The 11.5 volts is also a problem to me. I would use jumper cables from one of your trolling motor batteries to your starter battery and recheck your voltages. Remember only one battery for 12 volts. This will confirm if your battery is good and has enough amperage.

Thanks for the input guys. I retested everything tonight and it all tested good to the starter. So i disassemble the starter again and rechecked all the brushes and the stator and found one of the brushes was broke away from the wiring just like fishin_a_ledge talked about. I resoldered it and she fires up like she should.
Now its time to catch some fish.

Good Job

Glad you got it fixed so you can just worry about fishin'.

Good call fishn_a_ledge!!!