84 EVINRUDE 235 ONLY CRANKS WITH PLUGS OUT

[Joeyn]

Just bout this boat and motor, motor ran like a champ last week when I bought it.  went to winterize it today and slow crank.  Batteries were 4 years old so I bought 2 new ones with higher cranking amps than the old ones.  motor cranked good, started up for about 30-45 seconds spit and sputters and died.  tried to crank again and its real slow cranking like the batteries are dead.  checked voltage with volt meter, both are  putting out 12.8.  tried attatching jumper cables directly from battery to starter and it still cranks slow.  removed the plugs and they all had excessive oil on them, turned the key and the starter cranks fast. After that I went to put the plugs back in, and there wasn't splatters of oil all over the place like I expected.  put the plugs back in and the starter cranked real slow again, and now just a click.  Do you think the starter just failed on me or is there internal issues lurking?

[Capt. Bob]

I'd start with the easy stuff, aka the starter.

If you feel confident, pull it off and disassemble. If not, smell it.

Does it smell burnt?

It doesn't sound like there's a problem with the motor.

Good luck.

[Joeyn]

after I posted this I tried starting again and all its doing is clicking.  checked voltage at the cables and its all showing twelve volts.  all terminals are shiny silver.  no green to be found.  I've only owned it a week and I already have a bad taste in my mouth.  and its only the beginning.  starter will be ordered next pay period.  probably gonna replace the solenoid at the same time just for good measure.

[Capt.Joe]

Joeyn,
With the information that you provided us it sounds to me that you have a failing starter. The starter might be having a difficult time cranking against resistance and compression of the engine.

If you’re getting power to the starter and all you hear is clicking, my thoughts are the starter solenoid is going bad or the connection to it might not be making good contact.

It doesn’t seem like it may be a serious issue (I hope).

[RickK]

Just because you don't see green on the cable doesn't mean it isn't black inside end to end = high resistance. Measure the voltage across the battery and then at the starter. If you see a big difference, the cable is suspect. You can test this by disconnecting the red cable from the starter and the black from the ground point on the engine and replace these connections with a set of car jumper cables connected at the battery and to the connection points that were removed at the motor.  Then turn the key and see what happens. Remember that a battery at full charge is 12.6V (see attached) - notice that even though you see 12V the chart shows that at that voltage the battery is half charged.

[Joeyn]

replaced he starter last night and it fired right up and ran like a top

[RickK]

Nice.