Weird Starter issue

[ugafan83]

Ok so I have a 93 Johnson 30hp electric start outboard. The starter went out a couple months ago so I bought a new starter and everything was fine. Now about 3 months later the starter will randomly just spin and not lift and engage the flywheel. Sometimes it will engage and crank fine and sometimes just spin. I checked connections and getting 12.7 to the starter when turning the key. I also tried jumping straight from battery and the same thing. It is getting worse now as it would spin a couple times then I could bump the starter and it would crank. Now it is just spinning and engaged the flywheel just once in the last two days. I also applied pb blaster to the bendix and still no change.

 

[boobie]

How fast is it spinning ?? Real fast or slow ??

 

[ugafan83]

It seems to be spinning pretty fast. I cannot lift the bendix by hand but not sure it I am suppose to be able to or not

 

[Vic.S]

the Bendix should be quite free.

If you turn it clockwise it should wind itself up the shaft and into engagement with the ring gear. once you let go it should spiral back down again freely.

 

[glenn property of pam]

A starter works by snapping up to speed this means the shaft moves so fast at start up that the bendix winds up the thread before the bendix reachs the same speed as the starter motor.
Yours sounds like its slowly coming up to speed so the bendix is not being wound out into the flywheel (ok it may still look fast to you).

normally we would tell you to clean connections and then test with a jump lead but as you have already done that its time to remove the starter and disassemble it. (if you kept the old start disassemble that one first). clean the copper ring (stator) that the brushes ride against, scrap the slots in the copper ring with something sharp to clean out the grooves (point of a nail works). Make sure brushes spring in and out, if not clean them and add a little grease to spring (tiny amount). clean the brush tip that touches stator (its soft so go gently with a nail file). Make sure to use a backing wrench when installing the starter as you can turn the bolt and that will pull the brushes of the stator.

Test and see what happens

 

[steelespike]

If it cranks the motor when it does engage then I think the problem is in the Bendix.
it would seem a "new" starter should be basically sound but the bendix shaft the gear rides on needs to be lubricated.
WD40 will give you a temporary fix.Or perhaps something with the bendix has failed.

 

[tblshur]

just a thought, did you clean the - negative terminal where it bolts to motor. good luck:joyous:

 

[jakedaawg]

Load test battery first. clean all battery cable connections and tighten with a wrench second. report back

 

[ugafan83]

Ok gonna try something's today will report back..thanks