Ok guys, I'm back, it's been awhile. In March I purchased a used 1989 Bumble Bee Bass Boat with a 1986 Mercury 150 HP XR2 on it. Serial number is A961207. When I purchased the boat it had been sitting for a few years, we drained the fule tank, changed the plugs, new battery, and found a broken wire and fixed that. It started up and ran great that weekend. Brought it home and used it twice with no issues other than hard to start when cold. Now it's warmed up and took it out 4 weeks ago, started and ran fine, fished all day on Saturday, got up Sunday and it wouldn't turn over, went ahead and went fishing using the trolling motor, tried to start it later, it would turn over but not enough to start, tried again 2hrs later and it wouldn't turnover and made a clicking sound like a ford voltage regulator. So I checked the starter solenoid and it was bad. Order a new one and put it on and the motor started on the muffs. Saturday went to the lake it would turnover but not start then when I turned the key off the starter kept engaging, had to undo the negative battery cable to get it to stop. Got another starter solenoid and again it turned over fine. Went out again wouldn't turn over fast enough, so narrowed it down to the starter, bought a new one and installed it and it turned over fine but would fire and die about 4 times then it wouldn't turn over fast enough. Bought a new higher cranking amp battery and back to it won't even turn over now. The only thing that I haven't looked at is the key switch and any other electrical items not already mentioned. Anyone got any idea's? At this point I'm ready to take it to the local marine mechanic just so I can get to fishing/boating without worrying if it's going to start or not. But I would rather fix it myself than pay someone. I'm a Johnson/Evinrude guy for the most part and this is my first motor past 1978 that I've owned.
