Turn Key to start, one click and nothing
 

1987 Mercruiser 200/v8 io with Thunderbolt 4

Just started a few weeks ago... go to start, just a click. again, again, again... starts right up on 4th or 5th turn. Now its like the 10th turn. But when it starts, it starts and runs beautiful.

Any ideas on where to begin?

solenoid, next time it just clicks, check to see if are getting power thru the solenoid on the engine. large yellow wire with red stripe. if you are getting power thru the solenoid, its probably the solenoid on the starter itself

Definitely listen to Spare but the first thing I always check when that happens is for corroded battery terminals.

Thanks guys... I'm gonna look at one of my batteries terminals, as the other side was snipped and replaced a few months back.

I replaced the starter about 3 years ago... weird that it would go so soon.

NO. NOT the starter...starter solenoid.

check the battery cable at the starter, make sure it hasn't come loose

smack it with a BFW:bat:

Check the ground on the battery first than check all the connections.

Have you just checked the battery voltage to be sure something didn’t drain it down. Not insulting your intelligence - I once did a fair amount of diagnosis on my truck before figuring out that it had run out of gas:embarsed: