Ok, hoped I wouldn't need to use this, but...

[Lspeedss]

My guess: Clean out tray safety switch...tape a nickel on top of them.

 

[Bruce]

It's clicking from inside the black electrical box on the rear wall of the engine compartment... It's the starter in there??

The Solenoid is in there. Clicking instead of starting is the traditional symptom of a failed started solenoid.

 

[Bruce]

The Solenoid is in there. Clicking instead of starting is the traditional symptom of a failed started solenoid.

You could use one of those screwdrivers to short the solenoid contacts and start the engine. But you would pretty much have to be on top of the engine to do it.

 

[Murf'n'surf]

This may be a long shot but.....
Have you pulled the pump and inspected the impeller/housing clearance? It might be binding up and causing this no start/occasional start issue. I'm thinking this due to your boats age.

 

[MOA_Chaser]

This may be a long shot but.....
Have you pulled the pump and inspected the impeller/housing clearance? It might be binding up and causing this no start/occasional start issue. I'm thinking this due to your boats age.

I haven't done that. I'll have to look into it though as that impeller seemed more rattly than the starboard one when I'd run it briefly in my driveway.

Just got home, didn't get to do much more on the water due to lack of tools. I'm going to try to find online the exact location of the starter solenoid and give that a try tomorrow as well as trying to find all the connections and make sure they're tight. I have a pretty good headache going now, I don't know if I got a dose of CO from trying to troubleshoot in the engine compartment while the boat was underway or what!

 

[JC6275]

I haven't done that. I'll have to look into it though as that impeller seemed more rattly than the starboard one when I'd run it briefly in my driveway.

Just got home, didn't get to do much more on the water due to lack of tools. I'm going to try to find online the exact location of the starter solenoid and give that a try tomorrow as well as trying to find all the connections and make sure they're tight. I have a pretty good headache going now, I don't know if I got a dose of CO from trying to troubleshoot in the engine compartment while the boat was underway or what!

Hope you find the problem, and it's an easy fix. Sucks to have your day cut short and a Damn headache too....

 

[MOA_Chaser]

Oh we stayed out, LOL. We motored up past the launch, tossed anchor and grilled some burgers. No sense in completely wasting the day! Glad these boats have two engines!

 

[MOA_Chaser]

I found this link that sounds like my problem.

http://www.justanswer.com/boat/4ndw6-yamaha-ar230-jet-boat-twin-150s-one-starts.html

I'm wondering though, you can't have a solenoid "start going bad," right? It either works or it doesn't? And if that's true, then the engine wouldn't have turned over but not started earlier because of it....

 

[Bruce]

I have heard of plenty of automotive starter sold lids working intermittently. Normally they fail completely after working intermittently. Sometimes they work again after cooling down.

 

[Murf'n'surf]

I've had multiple starter solenoids that just clicked on SeaPoos.

 

[MOA_Chaser]

A solenoid wouldn't explain hard starting, though, right? Healthy sounding cranking but not firing.

All my symptoms from this summer:
Cranking but slow to start, sometimes.
Sometimes fires right up.
Occasionally when the starboard engine was running and I'd try to start the port, it would kill the starboard engine instantly. Again, not all the time.

YDS diagnosis, as of a couple weeks ago, showed nothing wrong.

Now today we started with the solenoid click but not firing or even turning over. A couple times it killed the starboard engine. And when I'd turn the key, the red idiot lights would start to glow as normal when you try to start but would quickly fade out.

 

[Murf'n'surf]

Ah I remember the other thread now. The solenoid and housing clearance are not related to your issue.

 

[MIDLIFECRISIS]

It sounds to me like your stator in the starter is going bad, only way to fix that is a new starter. You can take off the starter and have it bench tested at a good auto shop.

 

[Lspeedss]

I had the same thing happen with a bad battery this year...exactly the same thing.. @MOA_Chaser I wonder...

 

[txav8r]

I agree in that comment by @Lspeedss , this sounds like a voltage issue more and more. Check the battery under load, check all battery connections, check engine connection.

 

[MOA_Chaser]

I think I agree, a voltage issue on the affected engine side. I checked the 1/2/1+2 switch connections and they're all tight. I always top off the batteries using my Guest on-board so they were full, and I switched from battery 1 to battery 2, and finally to 1+2 while trying to start it yesterday with no change in behavior.

I'm just hoping that if it was a voltage problem that was causing the hard starting, that I didn't toast the starter while trying to start it over the last couple months. I did wait several seconds between attempts, and after several attempts would wait a few minutes to give the starter a rest, but maybe that wasn't enough. I'm hopeful that's not the case, because it didn't attempt to turn over at all after the shutdown, just clicked (and obviously it started the last time I tried, which got us down the river).

 

[MOA_Chaser]

Judas Priest, can they bury that starter any further away?? Can't even find where the positive connection is made LOL

 

[MOA_Chaser]

OK so I'm using up my lunch hour to dig around in the engine compartment. I took off the plastic shield that covers the shaft, and found that both the positive and the ground wire that goes to the starter were routed UNDERNEATH the shield, rather than over it... so the wires were being rubbed by the spinning shaft!!

I don't know if this is the cause of the problem, or just going to be another annoyance that I'm going to have to fix while I'm in there. About half of the copper has been worn away.

Possibly the positive shorting to the shaft could have caused the starboard engine to cut out while starting the port engine?

 

[JC6275]

That is your problem hopefully it didn't shirt out the starter ,frying it

 

[JC6275]

It's shorting the positive on the shaft and killing it... I can't believe it hasn't triped the circuit breakers... That's kinda freaking scary... Lots of sparks in the engine bay!!!! Gas fumes!!!!