Now my starter went out!

Same ornery boat motor as in my other 'hard to start' thread, lol. Today, I boated 4 miles up the lake to fish a spot. Leaving there, the motor was ornery, as usual, and finally would not turn over at all. This has been coming on. Last couple of times, it has not always activated the starter when I turn the key to the right. Now, this is in a sequence of maybe a dozen times or more of turning the motor over and over to try to start it -- the starter would sometime not activated when I turned the key. And I would turn it off and then back on and the starter would activate and turn the motor over. And eventually I would get it started. Today, in one of those episodes where the starter would not activate (after several times when it did)... that was all she wrote. I thought it might be a poor battery connection... seems that one time jiggled the cables and got it to turn over again. Anyway, that didn't work. I took the cover off and didn't see anything amiss but I am no expert. After a few attempts, I gave up and found my rope/handle and eventually got the bad boy started by hand. Which seems a miracle.

Wouldn't you know it, I have fished like mad this year and today, they are finally biting and my boat does this. Is there anything anyone can think of I could try other than take it to a mechanic. Probably a backlog to get a boat fixed now. Do these motors have a solenoid?

After it quit working, I heard a slight buzz when I turned the switch. I don't hear well but I didn't hear a click, I heard a slight buzz. Had to listen to good to hear it but it was there; it was getting power.

1997 Tracker, 40hp Tracker motor by Mercury Marine.

Thank you!

The battery may be weak and fooling you into thinking it's the starter. Sometimes a battery can have an issue where when a big load is thrown on it the voltage drops so much the starter bendix won't engage. And it can be real inconsistant...sometime seems okay...sometimes not...keep you guessing. If you don't have them get a set of muffs for the motor so you can run it on a hose at home. Charge the battery fully. And try to start the engine a couple times to draw some amps on the battery....if it does not have a good 12.6 to 12.7 volts after that measured with an accurate meter...your battery is suspect. Or take the battery and have it load tested.

It can also be a problem with the starter bearings being dry and the starter being worn a little. A really hot battery may still make it engage but a weak battery won't....so it could be sort of a dual problem.

If you have a good starter alternator shop in your area they will break it down for you and maybe rebuild it or just fix a part. Some won't if the starter is not real expensive.

You can always poke around for a loose connection or something. You can check your bendix gear and flywheel at the same time.

Sorry I ain't an outboard mechanic just tinkered around some.

Yes, you have a relay for your starter. Find it and jump around it and see if starter motor engages. If not starter motor is probably worms out from all the cranking. Doesn't take much to overheat and burn up those motors. If you jump around relay and motor engages good then replace the relay. Thinking the buzzing you were hearing is the relay. Any time working on out board with cover off, be really careful to not get fingers in flywheel. It will make short work of finger tips.

I agree with "Cray" on the solenoid/relay.

I was hoping it was the battery, but I charged it overnight and just now went out and it won't do anything. Was just trying to briefly bump it, not start it. I know not to do that, lol. In the quiet of the morning, I could hear the sound as more of a click and not a buzz, lol.

I am going to check for a bad connection but where does one buy parts for motors if it gets to that? And heck, this is Saturday!

Thanks for help.

EDIT: This has nothing to do with the starting problem but my squeeze bulb squirts a little fuel out sometimes. I will see if it is the connection, but if I need to replace it, where do I buy this? I can buy them at Academy but it will be Atwood brand. Somebody said that is not good?

Also, would you say odds are this is the solenoid or the starter? Anyone have a clue about how much a solenoid would cost? I was thinking I could try that. If it doesn't cost much, it might be effective to do that versus taking it to the mechanic and have to pay him the service charge. Also, this is just a 40hp motor, do you think rebuilding a starter is the way to go or just buy a new one?

I wrote this for i-Boats some time ago. See if it helps.

Probably95% of all starter problems is electrical. Is the battery fullycharged? Check all your connections. They must be very clean andtight. Check the lugs very closely for any signs of corrosion. Theycan corrode inside where you can't see it and cause the problem youare having. If you know how to do a voltage drop test you could checkthem that way. Another way would be to temporally substitute thecables with jumper cables. If all the cables have been confirmedgood, try jumping the starter solenoid. Just because it clicks doesNOT mean its good. If you are sure the solenoid is good have yourbattery load tested, regardless of age. This brings you to thestarter itself. Remove it and have it tested by your local autoelectric shop. They can rebuild it for you if needed and save yousome money. Let us know

Take your cowling off of your motor....find where the negative battery cable bolts to the engine block for ground....un bolt it...clean block area good and clean cable end good....then clean bolt..put back on and tighten bolt good. Then try it. A lot of times you can have a bad ground there and get just enough to make relay hum but not enough for everything to work. This has happened to me twice and even though everything looked clean .....it still needed a clean up....it also helps to put a star washer under the bolt head.

G, that ground cable that you are talking about was the problem on my 60 hp mercury 3 cly. also I found a good source to get parts from. MarineEngine.com. good prices and great service. Jimmy

You might turn the starter shaft about 1/4 turn and try the key again...It may have a dead spot on the armature.

If you have been having that much trouble starting that motor I would highly recommend doing a compression test on that motor,
If it has low compression it can be hard to start also. In that case look for another motor.

It was the solenoid. A friend tipped me off to his favorite mechanic and I called the man and he diagnosed and fixed it immediately! Glad to find him, I will go back to him!

Thanks for the help.