1988 85 hp force starter

[medic2508]

I had a problem with the starter cranking to slowly so I replaced it with a new starter and now it does nothing. I cleaned all the terminals tightened all connections and nothing. I also changed the throttle control cables and thought maybe it wasn't in neutral but i tried jumping the starter bypassing the solinoid and got nothing but alot of sparks. I was trying to jump it using jumper cables running off my truck battery. Could the battery not be enough to turn the starter? I was told to check the kill switch but I'm not sure where that is and i did reset the breaker and still nothing. any suggestions?

 

[chuckz]

Re: 1988 85 hp force starter

1. The kill switch has nothing to do with the starter, it kills the ignition.
2. The neutral safety switch interrupts the yellow wire that activates the starter solenoid.

Take the starter off and check and see if you can spin the shaft by hand, you should be able to easily. Then connect positive to the input power stud and ground to the case. If it doesn't spin, it's a bad starter. Under no load it takes very little current to spin the starter. Only when it engages the flywheel the starter requires heavy current.

If the starter is good, check the starter solenoid.

 

[john from md]

Re: 1988 85 hp force starter

If you jumped directly to the starter positive stud and got sparks, you have a direct short inside the starter. Send it back, it was not overhauled properly.

John

 

[medic2508]

Re: 1988 85 hp force starter

Thanks for the help.

 

[walk-on]

Re: 1988 85 hp force starter

I just had a recent similar problem on my '95 90HP. My starter would engage the flywheel intermittently. I finally tracked it down to a short in the main wire harness. During the whole process I also managed to blow the 20 amp fuse on the motor which messed me up for a while too. I would be inclined to check voltages at the solenoid before sending the starter back, but then I like to do everything the hard way...