1999 Mercury Force 40 HP will not crank and trim will not rise or lower

[JHDZ]

My '99 Merc Force 40 HP bass tracker suddenly will not crank. I arrived to this problem when I was going to run the engine before taking it to the lake. I connected the water hose with running water and primed the fuel line. I then went to crank it and a week crank started to begin and then nothing would happen. I have checked the fuses, batteries are charged up, no clicking sound of the starter or solenoid. When I try to lift the motor, I hear the relay clicking away very week. I checked the solenoid and there's 12V going to the red terminal. There's also 12V at the ignition switch on one side. When I turn the key to on, there is still only 12V on one side. I read is some other forums that I may have low voltage, how can I trouble shoot that issue? Any ideas would help. Thanks Joe

 

[pnwboat]

First thing to do is to remove and check/clean the positive and negative battery cable connections if you have not already done so. Use a wire brush or something similar to remove the corrosion. Check/clean the section of cable that goes from the + side of the battery to the starter solenoid. Then check/clean the cable from the stater solenoid to the starter itself. Next check/clean the - cable from the battery to the engine block. It's common for corrosion to build up on the underside of the connector and prevent enough current or amperage to flow to operate the starter. The top of the battery cable connector may look fine giving the impression that there is no corrosion. The starter draws something in the neighborhood of 150 to 200 amps.