i purchased a used boat saturday from down in hilton head. 18ft bay boat with a 2000 130 honda. boat and motor are both very clean and ran great on the sea trial. put it in the lake today to run with the wife and dog. noticed when i went to crank it up that it sounded like the battery was about dead. when i turned the key it would hardly turn over 2-4 times then kick off and crank. it did that for the 4-5 times i cranked it up today till the last time while back at the hill. went to crank it up all i got was what sounded like the starter just spinning with a slight grinding noise. is this the starter just going out? anybody had this type of problem. really wanted the boat to be running for the holiday weekend. my mechanic cant even look at it till the weekend after the holiday.
how old is the battery and are you sure the connections are tight?
your battery is dead.
green grass and high tides forever
jhp----- Murrells Inlet
even though the GPS, stereo and amp, depth, lights, trim, etc are running like there is a brand new battery in there?
“The amount of money I’ll be makin would hurt your parents feelings. Remember the class where I taught you all how to make it rain? That’s what I’ll be doin every night, dollar…dollar…bills y’all.”
Test the voltage on your battery.
It could also be the connections between the motor and the battery. There is a huge amp draw across those connections on startup and if the connections aren’t good the starter solenoid won’t engage. The amp draw on the accessories you mentioned isn’t nearly as high and those run off of a separate connection.
got the gel cranking battery on charge, did notice where the negative cable from the motor has electrical tape around the connection to the battery, could be a bad connection there. planning on fixing the connection after work and throwing the battery in. fingers crossed its this and not the starter… moneys tight right now
“The amount of money I’ll be makin would hurt your parents feelings. Remember the class where I taught you all how to make it rain? That’s what I’ll be doin every night, dollar…dollar…bills y’all.”
There is no comparison between the amount of power your electronics pull and the amount your starter needs. You can have a pretty bad connection and still have plenty of power for the electronics (a few amps). The starter can require hundreds of amps to get spun up and then spin the motor to start it.
So far, it sounds like a weak battery and/or connections. You are charging the battery. Also, clean all the connections to bright metal and re-connect. If that fixes your problem, get some liquid electrical tape and paint the connections with several good coats to slow (you can’t prevent) future corrosion.
Happy boating.
17’ Henry O Hornet
26’ Palmer Scott
i pulled the battery, was low but not dead. got it on full charge and changed the end on the motor negative cable that looked questionable. pulled the starter and sure enough its in pretty bad shape. no problem spinning however it will not pop down to engage with the flywheel. gonna drop it off tomorrow to have it rebuilt. hopefully this will solve the problem. ill keep yall updated. thanks for all the help as well
chris V, how would i test the battery at the engine?
“The amount of money I’ll be makin would hurt your parents feelings. Remember the class where I taught you all how to make it rain? That’s what I’ll be doin every night, dollar…dollar…bills y’all.”
before you rebuild the starter, you need to make sure you are getting proper amperage at teh starter
with teh battery cables connected, use a pair of jumper cables and jump power directly to teh starter and see if it works properly.
you could just have a bad battery cable.
you must use caution doing this
if it works, the flywheel will engage, or the cables can come loose and send sparks everywhere
I’m now at www.teamcharlestonmarine.com
the bendix pops up not down i think on most motors. CHECK THE BATTERY. then CHECK THEN BATTERY.
green grass and high tides forever
jhp----- Murrells Inlet
yea, i pulled the starter and hooked jumper cables directly from the battery to the starter from my battery and another hot battery. starter spins however does not pop down.
Tideline two, the flywheel on a honda is under the powerhead. the starter actually pops down to engage the flywheel.
when i pulled teh starter there was a good bit of corosion on the gear and shaft. you could see where it was stuck down. even after lubing it up and spinning it, i couldnt get it to budge. im almost positive it is the starter.
“The amount of money I’ll be makin would hurt your parents feelings. Remember the class where I taught you all how to make it rain? That’s what I’ll be doin every night, dollar…dollar…bills y’all.”