Starter replacement - 1.8L

[FLJetBoater]

For anyone who is having starter issues, it's a relatively simple job to do. This is the 3rd one I've done now and start to finish is under an hour and a half.

I wanted to document it better but it was getting dark and my pictures didn't come out very well. I'll add some after with close ups of the bolts/wires/etc to remove.

I would suggest making it part of your maintenance that you reach down under the manifold and wiggle the long bolts on the starter to make sure that they haven't come loose. You might be able to save it vs having to replace it if you catch it early enough.

Tools -
ratchet with 12mm socket (all manifold bolts and starter bolts are 12mm, I think the rear exhaust pipe bolt was 11mm)
torque wrench w/12mm socket
pliers for hose clamps
242 (blue) loctite for manifold bolts and rear exhaust pipe bolt
marine grease

Step0 - make sure batteries/power are turned off/disconnected
Step1 - Remove the bolt on the connection from the exhaust pipe to the rear of the motor. It's hidden down below the rectifier. Very important to remove this bolt first, if you don't and you remove all the exhaust manifold bolts you could shear this one off. It was a b%!*# to remove - very tight and difficult to get leverage.
Step2 - Remove all the exhaust manifold bolts. There are 8 shorter bolts along the top and 3 longer ones below them. There are 2 bolts on each end one above the other they're easy to miss if you don't look for them. The top bolt to the back of the engine doesn't come out all the way because the rectifier is in the way. I just loosened it and let it sit there
Step3 - Pull back exhaust manifold from engine
Step4 - Loosen hose clamp and remove big black hose coming from back of engine. Loosen hose clamp and remove hose coming up from below engine (it's directly in front of the starter bolts and much easier to work if it's disconnected, although you may not HAVE to do this one). Disconnect the 2 quick-connect connectors that come from the engine to the rectifier. On mine one was grey and one was black. Once this is done you should be able to push the exhaust manifold back far enough to clear the oil filter and rest it there.
Step5 - Remove starter bolts. This parts fun - prepare to scrape the you know what out of your knuckles/forearm on the corners of the exhaust manifold as you reach down there.
Step6 - Pull starter out. Collect all the pieces when it completely falls apart because the long bolts backed out. See picture. Disconnect positive power from the top of the starter piece that you can still grab and hasn't fallen into the bottom of the engine bay.

FYI this is a 3 year old OEM yamaha starter.
Step7 - Install new starter (grease the o-ring and metal part that slides in). Connect starter bolts (make sure ground wire is attached to bottom bolt) and reconnect positive wire to top of starter.
Step8 - Reconnect the hoses you disconnected in step 4. Reposition exhaust manifold closer to engine. Reconnect wires to rectifier.
Step9 - Install new exhaust manifold gasket and re-attach manifold. I put the center long bolt in first and semi-tighten it. Put in all the rest of the bolts and semi-tighten. In the older manuals there was a specific order to install/tighten the bolts but it seems in the newer manuals they have changed to phase 1 - tighten all bolts to 14.8ft-lb, phase 2 - tighten all bolts to 25.8 ft-lb.

tada!

 

[AZMark]

Why have you had to do so many?

 

[FLJetBoater]

Why have you had to do so many?

I had a 2014 initially that one of them failed on which I replaced a couple years ago. Upgraded to a 2020 last year and last time I had the boat in the shop to have something checked out they told me the bolts on both starters were completely loose. I bought it used and there was no warranty past the 1 year so I just did it myself.

When the 2014 one died it was the middle of the summer. Either wait 4-6 weeks to get into the dealer or learn how to do it myself

 

[212s]

Were the bolts not put in with Loctite? I don't see why they would loosen as they're made in Japan and shipped to the assembly plant.

Now I have check mine in the spring.

 

[FLJetBoater]

Were the bolts not put in with Loctite? I don't see why they would loosen as they're made in Japan and shipped to the assembly plant.

Now I have check mine in the spring.

I don't know...the long bolts that run along the starter are part of the starter assembly so if there was supposed to be loctite it should be done when the starter is assembled. I still have it I could take a closer look and see if there's anything noticeable on there but sure doesn't seem like there was. Especially for both bolts on 2 different starters to all back right out.

 

[Velocity731]

Im about to replace my port side starter, wondering if I could get away with just removing the bottom half of the exhaust manifold or does the whole thing have to come off?

 

[FLJetBoater]

Im about to replace my port side starter, wondering if I could get away with just removing the bottom half of the exhaust manifold or does the whole thing have to come off?

Yes that would be possible but, 1. It would still be difficult to reach around to where the starter is and 2. Not sure it’s much less work to do that vs just removing the main manifold

 

[Velocity731]

Yes that would be possible but, 1. It would still be difficult to reach around to where the starter is and 2. Not sure it’s much less work to do that vs just removing the main manifold

Thanks for the insight

 

[HawaiiBreeze]

Curious on this one point. Did you pull the starter out in the pieces that are shown because the Long Bolts came out or did you disassemble the starter on the bench. I was expecting the Starter change on this engine to be similar to the Starters I've changed on superjets, blasters and waverunners which is just removing those two bolts that hold the starter to the block. I guess what Im trying to confirm is that you dont need to remove the starter into its pieces to get it out?

 

[FLJetBoater]

Curious on this one point. Did you pull the starter out in the pieces that are shown because the Long Bolts came out or did you disassemble the starter on the bench. I was expecting the Starter change on this engine to be similar to the Starters I've changed on superjets, blasters and waverunners which is just removing those two bolts that hold the starter to the block. I guess what Im trying to confirm is that you dont need to remove the starter into its pieces to get it out?

The starter came out in those pieces because the long bolts that hold the starter together came out while it was installed.
Lol yes normally it would just be remove the 2 bolts that hold the starter in and it all pops out in 1 piece.

 

[HawaiiBreeze]

Roger that...!

 

[Ajfornal]

Hey did you have any issues getting the new starter on? I’m doing this repair now and can’t seem to get the new starter to seat inside properly.

 

[Ajfornal]

For anyone who is having starter issues, it's a relatively simple job to do. This is the 3rd one I've done now and start to finish is under an hour and a half.

I wanted to document it better but it was getting dark and my pictures didn't come out very well. I'll add some after with close ups of the bolts/wires/etc to remove.

I would suggest making it part of your maintenance that you reach down under the manifold and wiggle the long bolts on the starter to make sure that they haven't come loose. You might be able to save it vs having to replace it if you catch it early enough.

Tools -
ratchet with 12mm socket (all manifold bolts and starter bolts are 12mm, I think the rear exhaust pipe bolt was 11mm)
torque wrench w/12mm socket
pliers for hose clamps
242 (blue) loctite for manifold bolts and rear exhaust pipe bolt
marine grease

Step0 - make sure batteries/power are turned off/disconnected
Step1 - Remove the bolt on the connection from the exhaust pipe to the rear of the motor. It's hidden down below the rectifier. Very important to remove this bolt first, if you don't and you remove all the exhaust manifold bolts you could shear this one off. It was a b%!*# to remove - very tight and difficult to get leverage.
Step2 - Remove all the exhaust manifold bolts. There are 8 shorter bolts along the top and 3 longer ones below them. There are 2 bolts on each end one above the other they're easy to miss if you don't look for them. The top bolt to the back of the engine doesn't come out all the way because the rectifier is in the way. I just loosened it and let it sit there
Step3 - Pull back exhaust manifold from engine
Step4 - Loosen hose clamp and remove big black hose coming from back of engine. Loosen hose clamp and remove hose coming up from below engine (it's directly in front of the starter bolts and much easier to work if it's disconnected, although you may not HAVE to do this one). Disconnect the 2 quick-connect connectors that come from the engine to the rectifier. On mine one was grey and one was black. Once this is done you should be able to push the exhaust manifold back far enough to clear the oil filter and rest it there.
Step5 - Remove starter bolts. This parts fun - prepare to scrape the you know what out of your knuckles/forearm on the corners of the exhaust manifold as you reach down there.
Step6 - Pull starter out. Collect all the pieces when it completely falls apart because the long bolts backed out. See picture. Disconnect positive power from the top of the starter piece that you can still grab and hasn't fallen into the bottom of the engine bay.
View attachment 171830
FYI this is a 3 year old OEM yamaha starter.
Step7 - Install new starter (grease the o-ring and metal part that slides in). Connect starter bolts (make sure ground wire is attached to bottom bolt) and reconnect positive wire to top of starter.
Step8 - Reconnect the hoses you disconnected in step 4. Reposition exhaust manifold closer to engine. Reconnect wires to rectifier.
Step9 - Install new exhaust manifold gasket and re-attach manifold. I put the center long bolt in first and semi-tighten it. Put in all the rest of the bolts and semi-tighten. In the older manuals there was a specific order to install/tighten the bolts but it seems in the newer manuals they have changed to phase 1 - tighten all bolts to 14.8ft-lb, phase 2 - tighten all bolts to 25.8 ft-lb.

tada!

 

[Cambo]

I would suggest making it part of your maintenance that you reach down under the manifold and wiggle the long bolts on the starter to make sure that they haven't come loose. You might be able to save it vs having to replace it if you catch it early enough.

Do you know how many hours were on the motors when this happened?

I took an exhaust manifold off the MR1 engine and the one thing that created issues was the lock tite that was on the bolts and in the threads I should have cleaned them and chased the threads. That stuff binds up and and does not let the bolts go in.