70hp Johnson HELP

[BrianC73]

My dad now owns my old boat and motor, a 1989 70hp 3 cylinder Johnson. He is retired, lives on a river and has been running it daily for several weeks with no problems.

Earlier this week he turned the key, there was a click, and then nothing. No more clicks, no cranking, nothing. Batteries are good and all connections appeared good. To make it even more interesting, the trim now will not work up or down, but you can hear a sound from both relays when attempting to utilize. All this apparently happened instantaneously when attempting to start.

I did track down the starting fuse for him and it checked out OK. We couldn't find any broken wires or bad connections.

Any ideas???

Thanks!

[316jughead]

Did you clean the battery connections? Check the main battery ground connection on the motor.

[BrianC73]

316jughead gets the gold star! After spending about 6 hours tracing every wire, it turned out the battery ground stud on the outboard was severely corroded. A quick cleanup and she fired right up.

Thanks 316 and another example of why this board is great. Where else can a guy find out how to prop his new Triton and repair his 89 Johnson all at the same time?

BrianC
http://www.ohiobassangler.com

[Bassmeister]

ATTA boy Jerry!!!