Suzuki DF200A Click, but No Start

[Fritz129]

Hey,

My 2015 Suzuki DF200A (four cylinder, four stroke) will not start. I get the solenoid clicking, it no starter engagement. I pulled and tested the starter and solenoid and both seemed to test fine, then I bought a used one off eBay and get same result with that starter.

Both relays (main and starter) test fine, but I replaced them anyway, no change.

I went through the electrical system and found several dirty terminals, cleaned them and I’ve got 13V at the motor (with battery charger plugged in and charging), that’s about .2V less then at the batteries. When I engage the starter the voltage drops to about 10V, the solenoid clicks, but the starter will not engage.

What should I look for next?

I played with the kill switch and verified that the motor won’t turn over when it’s pulled. I cycled the throttle.

I’m out of ideas, please help.

Thank you,

[Tim Kelly]

I don't know, but 10v sounds like a big drop. Might be your battery is shot? Worth wiggling the throttle to make certain it's in neutral as it won't start if it thinks it's in gear.

[Moonlighter]

Bad battery cable - eg internal corrosion in the cable is a likely issue. If you flex the cables around you may feel one is crunchy inside and that is a sign of corrosion. Or check the cables with a multimeter.

or as already said, bad battery. Get them load tested.

[Fritz129]

Thanks guys, I’m going to replace all the battery cables and report back.

[rocket man]

If Clicks but doesnt turn over its the Solenoid.

[Fritz129]

It was the wiring. I replaced everything from the batteries back to the motor and all is now fine with the motor/starter.

the longer answer is I probably had a problem for a long time on the house side of my battery system, the first problem I had was I thought my cranking battery was on position One on the battery selector switch and the deep cycles on Two, they were actually reversed. A failed battery selector switch gave me the opportunity to realize that the inputs on the back side of my switch are on the opposite side. So for years I’ve been starting my boat on both, running to the reef then ignorantly switching to the cranking battery to run my bait pumps at anchor.

A partial failure of the battery selector switch finally exposed some long existing issues with corrosion and crimped wires. A great, and humbling learning experience.

[Moonlighter]

It was the wiring. I replaced everything from the batteries back to the motor and all is now fine with the motor/starter.

the longer answer is I probably had a problem for a long time on the house side of my battery system, the first problem I had was I thought my cranking battery was on position One on the battery selector switch and the deep cycles on Two, they were actually reversed. A failed battery selector switch gave me the opportunity to realize that the inputs on the back side of my switch are on the opposite side. So for years I’ve been starting my boat on both, running to the reef then ignorantly switching to the cranking battery to run my bait pumps at anchor.

A partial failure of the battery selector switch finally exposed some long existing issues with corrosion and crimped wires. A great, and humbling learning experience.

Well done on getting it sorted!

Have you considered upgrading to a proper dual battery management system? Most of us run such a system, there are several manufacturers that sell kits that make the swap-over quite simple.

The benefits are many, including automatic charging of both batteries, separating the start and house batteries when engine is turned off so that sensitive electronics are protected from spikes when engines are started, protecting the start battry from being drained by house loads, and the ability to combine both batteries if the start battery fails.

Some, such as the version I use, have separate master switches for the start and house batteries so that if something goes wrong on the house side, it can be quickly switched off.

This is the system that I use:

http://www.bepmarine.com/en/716-sq-140a-dvsr