Starting problem 200 Johnson, please help..

[KJ]

Hey gang,

I have a starting problem with my 94 Johnson 200 venom. I got in the boat today and went to start it, I got the normal whistle sound when I turn the key but the starter did not kick in. It did not make a noise just a faint single click. In other words a single click for each time I turned the key. I tried to get the starter to engage for about 2 minutes with no luck. After about 2 minutes my friend tried it 3 times and on the third try it engaged and started right up. The battery had plenty of charge, at least I think so because the tilt screamed up and down. Once i got it running and rode around for about 10 minutes I shut it down to fish. 5 minutes later, same dam thing. So I decided to fish for a while and it took me about 5 minutes to finally get the starter to wake up. I first noticed this the other day while waiting for blast off in a tourney, I had the engine idling for about 5 minutes and shut it down to talk to a friend before blast off. When we got the green light... bingo, nothing. Everyone blasted off and could not get the starter to kick in. 2 minutes later it fired up. I checked the kill cord (lanyard) to make sure that was not the problem. I also played with the hand throttle (forward/neutral/reverse)

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Could the wet weather we have had here in New England be a factor? I went fishing later this afternoon and it fired up every time, and its not raining anymore.
Please help! I am on vacation this week and I seem to have the worst luck.
Could it be a weak battery?
Could it be the starter solenoid or the starter itself?
Thanks in advance KJ



Modified by KJ at 7:10 PM 5/1/2005

[ChampioNman]

Hey Kurt,
First thing I would do is get rid of the wing nuts on the battery and replace them with SS lock washers and nylon lock nuts. Make sure all the connections to the solenoid are tight and the ground side are tight. Your solenoid may be going out, but the first place I'd check is the battery to starter connections. Next place to look would be the neutral lock out switch on the shift control. You can meter it out to see if it is messing up. CM

[Deadbeat]

Yes to any one of the three. You really need a voltmeter to check it properly. If you happen to have one handy, connect the negative leed to the battery negative cable on the starter and connect the positive lead to the post on the starter relay the positive battery cable is connected. If battery is good and fully charged you should read 12.6 - 12.8VDC. Now try to crank the motor, you should still have over 12VDC. If not, place the meters leeds across the two lead post (not the cables) on the battery and try it again, if it drops way down, the battery is bad. If it doesn't drop and did at the starter, you have a dirty/bad connection at the battery or at the motor (clean both negative and positive on both ends).

If it didn't drop (was still over 12VDC) when you checked the postive side of the start relay, connect it to the positive post on the starter and try it again. If you have still have 12VDC, the starter is bad or possibly where the battery negative cable connects at the starter has a bad connection If you have no/very low voltage at the starter positive cable when you tried it, the relay is bad.

If you don't have a voltmeter, these checks can be done with a 12 volt lamp. The lamp should burn bright in each place I said you should get 12 volts. If it doesn't burn or is very dim, that's where your problem is.

Might want to double check the starter is not spinning when you do this, sometimes the bendix stick down and does not engage the flywheel.

[KJ]

CM, thanks for the reply!

I already use SS lock washers and Nylon lock nuts.8-)
All connections are tight and free of corrosion.
Could you explain how to meter it out if you have a chance?
If it is the solenoid, what am I looking at $$ wise?
Thanks, KJ

[KJ]

Thanks Deadbeat!
I will check what you mentioned in the morning. Luckily my retired father from the Air Force has more gadgets and "stuff" to check voltage from when he was a pilot.
Any other advice would be helpful!
I thank you all for your time!
KJ

[toddgot5fish]

i know these motors fire up fast , but how fast is your starter turning, is it lagging or very fast, sounds like the solenoid could be the prob if its spinning over fast. prob around 25 to 50 for a new one. you should audibly be a to hear the click and starter rotate if its working properly.

[KJ]

Thanks for all the feedback guys. I checked the voltage today and everything seems right on. I did notice that the Negative post on the starter was loose and could move it easlily with my finger. I hope that was the problem. I tried 10 times firing it up every time with success. It even seemed to turn over faster.
Thanks again. KJ