'95 Johnson 115HP starter won't engage

[lkrasner]

I have a 1995 Johnson 115HP, 2 cycle, oil injected outboard Motor. Model #J115ELEO The starter gear will not engage the flywheel. I have read other posts saying how to fix this and have tried what they say. My battery is full and connections seem to be good. I have tried another battery that I know is good and tried jumping it with my car. Nothing works. In this model the gear that goes up and engages is not directly on the starter motor, but to the side connected by another gear. What seems seems to be happening is that the starter gets up to speed but not quickly enough to force the gear up to engage. this leads me to believe that I have a bad starter, but I am hoping someone can help.

 

[DJ]

Re: '95 Johnson 115HP starter won't engage

1. Remove the NEGATIVE battery terminal from the engine block and clean it-THOROUGHLY.

2. Walk the starter gear up the shaft. Do this by rotating it, with fingers, in the opposite direction of rotation. Clean it and lube LIGHTLY with some lithium grease.

 

[lkrasner]

Re: '95 Johnson 115HP starter won't engage

1. Remove the NEGATIVE battery terminal from the engine block and clean it-THOROUGHLY.

2. Walk the starter gear up the shaft. Do this by rotating it, with fingers, in the opposite direction of rotation. Clean it and lube LIGHTLY with some lithium grease.

In this engine the starter system is somewhat buried which made it hart to get to. once I could see the gears I discovered the Bendix mechanism was moving freely. My next step is to try cleaning all the connections. I'll get back to you on how that works. I'm really frustrated with this problem because all last year the engine ran great (after blowing a piston because of an oil leak AND bad thermometer then having it rebuilt). This happened just after sitting over the winter

 

[ryguy1101]

Re: '95 Johnson 115HP starter won't engage

How long have you been running on that particular starter? Lots of wear perhaps? I had the same behavior with my starter and when I disassembled I found out the brushes inside the bottom cap were completely worn out. switched bottom cap with one from another old starter I had on hand with better brushes and it engages the flywheel every time now. My question is, did you have any warning signs?? i.e. did it engage intermittently for a few trips or was it working fine one day and not working at all the next? If the change was very sudden then the brushes are probably not be the problem.

 

[lkrasner]

Re: '95 Johnson 115HP starter won't engage

Fixed. I feel like an idiot because of how simple the fix was. it literally took less than a second. (then about an hour to put everything back together that I had already taken apart trying to fix it.) My boat has three batteries. One cranking and 2 deep cycles. the positives are switched but all the negatives are linked together, meaning one bad connection can screw everything up. the problem was that one of the battery negative terminals was about 1/8 of a turn loose. :facepalm:

 

[boobie]

Re: '95 Johnson 115HP starter won't engage

That one will get you every time. Been there and done it. Anyway you found it.