1968 mercury 500 starter issues

[luckys pinstriping]

Good morning to the club
I have a 1968 mercury 500 50hp with a starter issue i believe. Had the motor running all seemed fine then motor stalled. I try to restart it and all i get is a clicking sound. When i turn the key to start i only hear a click. The starter doesn’t engage or spin. I cleaned all the connections and tried again with the same result. The choke works so i assume i do have power to the motor. i thinking its either the starter motor or the solenoid. How do i begin to determine where my issue is or does any have any ideas here. Again i am assuming here but i think the click is the solenoid which then leads me to the starter, could it be bad?

Is there a way to check if the solenoid is ok?
Also how do i check to see if the starter is ok

Thanks in advance
Nick

 

[racerone]

Charge the battery and see what happens.----Better yet is to get the battery load tested.----A service you can find for " no money spent "at many shops.

 

[The Force power]

Yes there is an easy way to check the Starter-solenoid -- Jump the terminals( with a screwdriver) across the starter-cable.

As Racerone already said; Make Sure you have a GOOD battery

To check the Starter---check with a good set of cables (make sure to have a good ground)

 

[luckys pinstriping]

Thank you guys for the feedback looks like the starter is shot. I replace that and probably the working harness as well. Looks like I have some dry rot on some of the wires.

Nick

 

[The Force power]

If the wires have not been updated; there will be "dry rot" for sure!
Check also the wires inside the Control-box the insulation tends to "fall-off" the wiring
a weak/low power going to the starter-solenoid will create starter issues
Inside the the engine compartment you could/should pull the main harness out and remove the wrap from the bundle of wires
and inspect every single wire & its insulation especially the splice points wires.

The Older Mercs. are notorious for that, but to be fair; it has been 50 years