Can't start the boat

[leeprice72]

autozone or any of those stores can check that starter for free. Napa can even get you a new one.

[awthacker]

Bad news guys. The battery is good and the starter is good. I do believe the solenoid is bad and should be replaced, but the bigger problem is that the flywheel is seized up. So much so that I can't bang it free with a hammer and screwdriver. One plug has significant corrosion on it... the other five look good. So I guess the next step is to open it up and see how bad it is. Kinda bummed - I'm no mechanic and have never opened up an engine, but I'd rather learn something than overpay to have someone else do it. After all, it is the perfect time of year for this.

[leeprice72]

Has the motor set up for a real long time? Did you try turning flywheel with a plug out? I would probably have a mechanic tell you if it is blown or not. Those engines are way more complicated than you think. You could try squirting some oil down the spark plug holes and let it sit over night then try to see if that helps break it loose. It is odd for it to just lock up like that unless something is really wrong.

[awthacker]

Kevin, I only got to step 1 and there was exactly 10V between + battery and + starter. My father-in-law was the helper and he said the solenoid is bad because it stayed energized after he turned the key off. It caused the battery to smoke until he turned it off at the selector switch. It also has some stripping on the grounding post, so just needs replacement.

Lee, it definitely looks complex. I sprayed deep creep in all cylinders. Tried turning the prop... no luck. Then worked our way to the flywheel and couldn't turn it either.

The history on it is this: We moved to a new home in late September, so I pretty much quit fishing for two months. I've never had trouble with this engine since I got it in February.

Last succesful trip was labor day, so 9/5.

Next trip was on a friends boat, then we attempted to run offshore on 11/14. I had trouble starting it the night before, so I put some new plugs in it and sprayed deep creep. The boat started fine, but wouldn't run much higher than idle and wouldn't rev up. We take it back home and scrub the dive trip. Next day it sounds really good on the hose, so I'm believing that the floats were sticking and may have freed themselves up (this is a friend's suggestion).

Then my Dad comes in for a week at Thanksgiving. We planned on launching the boat on Wednesday, so 11/23, for a test run. Boat won't start, we guess bad battery and plug in the charger. Next day, we try to start it again and notice the battery getting hot. No time to mess with it that day and some construction began at the new house the following week, so I haven't gotten back to it until this weekend.

This morning my father-in-law was over and he kinda took over the diagnosis. He says there must be water getting in from the cooling system. He's surprised the cylinder could've been compromised without the overheat siren, but definitely feels like that cylinder is stuck due to corrosion. He says there's no point in trying to free up the flywheel because there is definitely a problem in there that we need to fix. He told me to slowly take that side apart and find out where the leak is and hope it's just a gasket. He wasn't very familiar with this engine type, though. Said his neighbor took one apart and couldn't get it back together.

[spareparts]

If you cant turn the motor over by hand, pull the plugs and try again, if you can't turn it by hand then, look at the plugs, if they all look good, drop the lower unit and try again, if you still can't turn it over, start pulling the heads off and take a look, if you don't find anything there, pull the flywheel and make sure the magnets aren't bound up

[awthacker]

Thanks. We did try without plugs and one is corroded. Should I drop the lower unit, or go straight to the heads?

[leeprice72]

I had a 95 112 Johnson burn up due to clogged jet, I had just had them all rebuilt ran good for a couple of weeks then started getting crappy. Would not idle I did not think much of it. We sat at a blue angels show in a little cove here got ready to leave and boat would not plane. I was about nine miles away from launch. Proceeded to run motor as much as it would go (big mistake) until it would die then recrank it until we got home. This would be lugging the engine. It blew up bigger than you know what and I never got a horn or nothing beside bad performance. In my case it burned up a cylinder. Bought a replacement used suzuki for that boat for way cheaper than fixing it. If you ever get that flywheel to spin check compression before wasting anymore time. You would probablly be better off looking for a powerhead to stick on it and be done with it. That is a pretty common engine there are many out there. Good Luck it really sucks when the engines won't cooperate.

[spareparts]

if you got rust on one plug, go ahead and pull the heads

[awthacker]

Okay, opened up the starboard side heads today. To me, they look really bad but I don't anything about engines. There is a grit in there, as well as some rust colored oil?

I think I know where the grit is from... when I was originally installing the engine after purchase, I tried to start it with the cowling on and the plugs out.... BOOM! Then I used the fire extinguisher and some overspray definitely entered the cylinders. I tried to clean it up best I could with seafoam, but never considered opening up the heads. I was a bit too timid to pull the heads and didn't know it was this easy or I would've cleaned it up a little better.

Anyway, I'm gonna wait to hear back from someone on what I should do next. It's not very easy to get to the flywheel through this optical ignition system, so I'll see if I can turn the prop and report back.

[chumbucket]

They all look bad to me. Also doesn't look like you had much cooling going on there either.