1990 Yamaha 115. Non mechanical friend calls me when he gets to his boat and it won't start. I am three states away and am into fish but I put the rod down and we talk about the situation. When he turns the key he gets a click that seems to come from the starter. But, the starter gear is engaged in the flywheel. I tell him to rotate the flywheel to see if the starer gear will disengage and it does, but still only a click from the starter when he turns the key. On my way home on Sunday night I am literaly passing within 100 yards of the boat so I stop and take a look. I am equiped with my trusty headlight, a test light, and a Leatherman, and I have a key to his boat. The battery seems fine, the power trim and tilt is working well. There is a small Hitachi component below the starter with a heavy positive and negative cable and a small, 14 or 16 gauge, brown wire. I assume this is the starter solinoid. Using only the test light, power and ground seem good here. The ground on the starter seems good. I then connected the test light to the ground on the starter and to the positive side of the starter and try to start with the key. As soon as the key gets to the "start" position I get a soft click that seems to come from the starter and the test light illuminates dimly. I could not turn the key to the start position and touch the starter at the same time to confirm that it was in fact the starter that was clicking, my arms just weren't long enough. Am I looking at a bad starter or do I need to do further testing. I did not have jumper cables to test the starter straight off the battery as I would have liked. Any advice on this situation would be greatly appreciated. As always, thanks in advance.
