Whaler Central - Boston Whaler Boat Information and Photos

Posted by otisthelab on 05/24/09 - 3:29 PM

Un-Winterizing the boat. Got to the motor. Tried to turn it over and got the 'ol "click" at the starter / solenoid. Batteries are fine. Put motor in gear and turned it over with the prop - turned over. 2000 Mercury 200 2 Stroke

So I am guessing the starter is frozen up. Tried the crude "tapping" on the outside to no avail.

Any ideas on what to try before I go out and get a starter to try Tuesday morning. (kinda depressing, hoped to get it out this weekend).

Thanks for the help.

Posted by Derwd24 on 05/24/09 - 3:48 PM

I'm not sure about Mercury, but on Evinrude/Johnson you can jump out (bypass) the large lugs on the starter solenoid to see if that's the issue, and it will also tell you if the starter is working.

Posted by Derwd24 on 05/24/09 - 4:54 PM

Glad you were able to isolate the problem, and the solenoid is the lesser of the two cost wise. The bonus is you can still go for a run this weekend if you don't mind jumping out manually...

Posted by otisthelab on 05/24/09 - 6:22 PM

Yeah, You're definately right...thanks. Haven't done the screwdriver jump for 23 years when I had an old 1967 Bronco... was too broke to throw down for the solenoid for a while so standard procedure was the screwdriver!

Posted by Derwd24 on 05/24/09 - 7:16 PM

Right, same here - when we were kids, we had a 70 HP Evinrude that the solenoid quit on. Figured out that a pair of medium sized needle nose pliers open wide would span the gap between the lugs and jump it right out. Summer was too short not to use the boat due to a bad solenoid, skiing was a necessity, we didn't care how it looked!