starter sticking

[pudge24heath]

i have a 1985 mercury 50hp and to begin with i'm not getting any fire to any of the 3 cyl. and it turns over slow like its pulsing. but them after i turn the switch off its still turning over and i have to disconnect the battery. can anyone help?

 

[Silvertip]

Re: starter sticking

Stuck solenoid. Replace it. Could also be an ignition switch that is not returning off the START position. Check it carefully and replace if necessary. Turning over slow = bad battery cable connections, weak battery or tired starter.

 

[pudge24heath]

Re: starter sticking

I'm gonna clean the leads tomorrow and try it again. I ran a jumper cable from battery to the starter and it still turns the same. I just bought the battery yesterday and had it on a tender all night just in case. Also still no fire from the plugs. The stater is about 3 years old and the power pack about 2, pretty much everything else is from 1985 and for the most part if I haven't messed with something yet I don't know much about it.

 

[turbinedoctor]

Re: starter sticking

It's possible that when you fix the slow cranking problem you will get fire to your plugs. If the flywheel isn't turning fast enough you may not be creating enough voltage in the stator to fire the plugs.

Check and make sure your battery is fully charged. A battery tender over night propably isn't enough to do the job. Get at least a 8 amp charger and let it charge until the amps from the charger drops to around 1 amp. Check the voltage, should be around 12.5 or a little higher.

If it still turns over slow, do a voltage drop test on the positive cable from the battery (checking at every junction in case you have a battery disconnect switch) to the starter and then from the engine back to the battery on the negative. I had a problem with mine turning slow and found that the negative had a bad spot in it. I replaced the cables and it made a huge difference.

Durwood

 

[narvlebenoit]

Re: starter sticking

I had a starter that was turnning heavey and was getting hot I took it to a guy here in Thibodaux Louisiana that rebuilds starters he told me that turnning the starter on a weak battery and getting it hot gets it dirty in side.(he had a big word for being dirty) but he took it apart and cleaned it and change the top gear and all for 45.$ witch I think is pretty cheap . and it works fine now.

 

[pudge24heath]

Re: starter sticking

Alright an update, i cleaned the terminals among many other things today. The solenoid isn't sticking anymore, but i still have no fire in any cylinders. Also when i have a plug out it turns over like a champ.

 

[pudge24heath]

Re: starter sticking

Rectifier was the issue

 

[CharlieB]

Re: starter sticking

You may have cured the immediate ignition problem replacing the defective rectifier, but if you do not address that dragging starter it won't be too long before it does NOT crank fast enough with ALL spark plugs in to fire the ignition again.

As pointed out by an earlier posting, a rebuild by a starter shop is cheap enough that you can prevent FUTURE problems at a very reasonable cost.

How's that old adage go?


"An ounce of prevention......."