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We see alot of folks come through that don't know, some get lucky, some don't.

I've been out there since I was about 10 or 12, worked on a lobster boat for three summers and still get surprised once in a while. A few years ago a lobsterman that has been out there 35 years almost sunk his boat at inner minot's.

My maintenance habits come from the Navy Nuclear Sub Service. I'm trained to take things apart, inspect and put them back togther, just because.

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Hey Mark, I didn't know you were a Bubble Head [img]/forum/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]
Just kidding, I was a Tin Can Sailor myself. At least you had the brains to take things apart, as a Boatswain Mate we were trained to just painted over it & hide the rust :eek:

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glad you got her going jamie- remember the air lock deal when you splash her- just dont open the strainer when the boat is not running, she will airlock on you for sure (be fine when you are idling and overheat when you start running) on thing to add to marks post- if you have the manifolds risers any parts of the cooling system off for any amount of time, store them in anti-freeze to keep them from corroding internally.

hope it all works out well for ya this season, hopefully i will have mine back together by fall :D- craig

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hey mark- what boat were you on?? i am a nuc manager and former refueler and currently responsible in my (specialty)area for i believe 6 boats- no-one does it better than us **** Rickover maintenance relics

capn chuck- bosun on tin cans huh,lolol- :D

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Miles,

I was on the 616 Blue from '82 to '87, Electrical Operator/EWS. Although I was a motorhead as a kid, the nuke navy taught us alot about keeping machinery running, targets to cover, all that.

It's weird, the lingo of that era was MIRV and strategic deterence. Now it's IED and insurgents. It almost seems we were better off in the Cold War days, young guys were not getting killed and maimed.

Anyway, this is about Seacrafts. I agree that the cast iron should stay filled with an anti-corrosion solution all winter. I pull all that stuff in the spring, clean it up, paint with Black Velvet and re-assemble it all with new gaskets and hardware.

There's always something to paint in a saltwater cooled engine compartment, I wish I knew a Bosuns Mate.

By the way Capn Chuck, those tin cans and the like, were just targets for the Mk 48s.

Mark

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Here she is, put her in the water this afternoon and took her out for a shake down. Things seem good. One question though, I sucked out all the old transmission fluid and want to make sure i put the right amount back in. Any idea on how many quarts? Once I siphoned it all out does that mean there will still be more in there in the gears or ware ever? Because i only put 3 quarts in and it appears to be reading well above full. However before i added the 3rd one, i had her running for about 25 minutes and it barely registered on the dipstick. It seems weird that only 1 quart would put her that full when 2 barely showed on the dipstick. Any ideas. She ran fine, of course it was flat ass calm so i can't yet comment on how well she does in the sloop. I am sure i won't be disapointed. Thanks for any ideas guys.

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b1...1234/p4094.jpg

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Don't know much about the tranny but she looks great congrats dude happy fishing. :cool: :cool: :cool:

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Looks really sweet elija !!! the tranny builds up a lot of pressure when in gear and yes that fluid works its way up in that tranny pretty good. if she is overfilled it will pop that relief valve on the top and go into the bilge. at least it wont pop and seals!!!! 3 quarts still sounds high to me , im just not real sure- im thinking maybe 1.5 quarts is more in the ballpark. let me know if it doesnt show in the bilge??? great pic- she looks really sweet!!! craig

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Is there anything that won't go WRONG??? Now i think the stater is Sh!t, and the carb won't choke. THIS SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Calmdown Chance! :)
We do not want to see your boat in the "For Sale Thread"
under stressfull circumstances.
The new saying is:
If it ain't 1 F*!$^%-ng thing it is 6!!! :eek:
Hang in there, you will whip-it.
See ya, Ken

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i changed the starter, the starter selonoid, and slave selonoid. The only thing that is clicking when i turn the key is the slave selonoid, i checked the wires and the grounds and now i have no clue what to do.

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Is there a circuit breaker/fuse anywhere near the starter?
The first thing I would check is whether there is power at the starter when you try to energize it.

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you would have thought that the guy i paid 3 thousand dollars to, would have checked all this stuff, since this is undoubtly electrical. If any one ever has there boat rewired in MA, I can tell you who not to use!! not only did he wire my chartplotter wrong (which i fixed) but my starboard fuel tank sending unit does not work, and now this. For 3k it should be prestine and it should not have wires that go no where and electrical tape instead of appropriate bundling techniques. I won't drop the name here unless someone really wants me to. Becuase I want to, i just think trayder would not appreciate that. Oh, there is no breaker or fuse near there. From what i can figure is that there is a ground somewhere between the slave solonoid and the staring solenoid and starter.

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Hey Chance- sounds like you need a "refund"- dont think i can help on your wiring problems but the choke problem might be wiring related as well. I took care of that on my boat- i just leave the choke disconnected . In a colder climate where you are , i would install a manual pull choke in my console. Hope you get your starter squared away-i know you gotta be frustrated- :(

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do not hold back on my account.

I'd be pissed too, but I do think you will whip this soon. Trace all the wiring for the ingnition I have a sneaking suscpision(sp?) you have a mucked up ground somewhere.

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Deleted at Chance's request

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i agree with Jason,probably a bad main system ground, the whole system is really very basic system- is your hot lead going to the starter getting hot when you turn it over?? Also there is probably a 30 amp cuircuit breaker (red button) that motor manufacturers try to enguinuilously(sp) hide beyond anyones sight unless you know to look for it. A lot of the time it will be in its own mounting bracket right beside the slave but on mine for instance , it is on the starboard side near the manifolds. You can find it by tracing the wires directly from your starterand it should lead you straight to it. (but if there aint one there there aint one there, if there is all you should have to do is push it. good luck- sucks to pay that much for half ass work. i think i spent about a grand a couple of years ago rewiring mine so at least if it mucks up- i can blame myself!!!!! craig

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Thanks miles, the button you mentioned is in plain view right by the slave selonid, i have pressed it about 100 times in vein attempts to solve this thing. What is the point of the slave seloniod, do i need it?? I would really like to simplify this thing even further if i could. Remember, i just a dum bosun mat :D This engineering stuff is for the birds. I actually don't mind it, gets me to know the engine i guess, but i have about had it with this problem. Thanks for the help and any future help.

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http://www.sterndrive-information.co...condition.html
Try going to this link-it should give you some good troubleshooting ideas.
I don't think you better mess with taking out that slave-I'm pretty sure it regulates the voltage drop to your starter solenoid because of the long cable run from the dash.
Doug

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I had the same starting problem, only on my outboard. Couldn't find the problem anywhere. Turned out to be the Perko dual battery swith, all corroded where the connections are. Pull your switch ( if u have one) and look behind, maybe that's it???

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Yeah, i have already checked that and it is fine, thanks for the help though. I will post some pics tonight of my steller 3K wiring job.

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Ebbenizer is on to something, while you are at it go over every connection on the engines electrical system with an emery cloth. and then spray some corrosion block on it.

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Chance, I would check with a test light or volt meter,you said you can hear a clicking at the slave,check voltage as someone trys to start at both sides slave from eng.ground and battery ground.You should have power on that slave on bat. side and when you att. to start (hear the click) power should on starter side.(rember use eng. ground and batt. ground just to make sure you have a good ground)Power on batt. side,,att. to start (click) check starter side,no power bad slave.Power on both sides check term. on starter and power at the starter.If you have power at starter when att. to start you have a bad starter. Hope this will help. ;)

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Thanks Rod man, however i know both the slave and starter are good as another slave was put in today (that makes 3 just to make sure) and the starter i tested before i installed it 5 days ago and she worked fine. I was going to do more tests but the rain came. If i can bring myself to look at it again i will go back latter tonight. Thanks for any help. Also i put in 2 new batteries with 12.7 volts each. I heard that 12v is only at 25% and that will burn out the slave if used at 25%. Still no change however, same damn noise. It has to be either a ground that i can't see or a bad wire. everything else is brand new. If it wasen't for bad luck i would have no luck at all. What is even making things worse is the fact that i toped her off the other day and i hear that if you don't use the new fuel within 15 days it starts to loose octane (or something like that) So after i get this fixed i will probably have issues with the fuel system. I may be a little pessimistic at this point. Sorry

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Chance, If you have voltage to the starter get a jumper cable and go from the battery ground to the engine block.If she cranks you have to check your grounds.Good luck.

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what do you mean "go from the battery ground to the engine block" do you mean from the neg side of the battery to the engine block? What size cable should i use to jump it. I don't know a thing about electrical. Sorry.

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A set of jumper cables will do for the test on the ground system ya know car jumper cables. Also get rid of the volt meter and use a test light, for those that are unsure or learning about DC electrical systems the volt meter can be deceiving can't go wrong with a test light and as far as the low voltage issues if the batteries are at 12 volt it should engage the starter and turn the motor over low voltage will burn up starters but a solinoid is just a switch that is turned on or engaged by a electromagnetic coil that engages when voltage is applied to the coil. If you start at the posi. term on the starter with the test light and go backwards stopping and checking every connection of that wire until you get to the positive terminal on the battery while the key is turned to the start position you can rule out that and move on then do the same with the ground by connecting the test light clamp to the pos. side of the battery. If your on the boat and can't figure it out call me I can probably talk you through any checks you'll need to do 281-850-9521.

Good luck
Scott

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Thanks scott, you should proably expect a call tommorrow around 3pm eastern standard time. I appreciate it.

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Lookin forward to it Don't for get if ya don't have one yet score a test light, you should be able to find one cheap at your local auto parts store.

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I did some tests, however some of them i can't do becuase i don't know where to put the positive and negeative to see if the thing is working. this is what i got: Battery no load (pos to neg on battery) 12.7V, battery with load (same setup except with key turned) 12.5V. Some one here says that if it dosen't drop a full volt that the starting circuit is bad. What does that mean? also checked the slave selonoid (i think) by going positive battery terminal to positive side of slave with load and then without load. got 0V no load and the same with load. I put the positive side of meter on stater selonoid positve cable and the neg on starter case and got 12.7V Now the way this is wired goes something like this: The positve battery cable is coming from battery directly to the starter selonoid, then some wires go from there to the wiring harness and some go to the slave selonoid and some go ?? Does this seem right. It seems to me that the pos battery cable would go to the slave first and then back to the other selonoid then to the starter. why would it go from starter selonoid to slave back to starter?? I don't get it. What does this tell you guys if anything. Thanks for everything

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Tell that Scum Bag electrician to get it right or refund the $3K http://floridasportsman.com/art/bang.gif

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I am sitting here checking out a mercruiser wiring diagram and if your system is merc and original there sould be a yellow wire going out from the key switch through the enginr harness connector to the engage terminal on the slave solenoid and the slave solenoid should have the battery pos. cable from the circuit breaker connected to one side and from that terminal to the large start terminal on the starter and the other side of the slave solenoid should have a yellow wire that should be connected to the starter solenoid terminal that is mounted on the starter basically the slave is just a relay for the starter solenoid engage signal. Also noticed that the electric choke gets voltage from the yellow wire between the slave solenoid and the starter solinoid.

Scott

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Sorry Chance,
Bad storm ,power went out.Just got back on line.See you have a lot of help.That the norm here.Great bunch of guys.It will all work out for you.

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If the starting circuit is bad it is not drawing-the problem could be any number of things. I know you checked the grounds in earlier posts,but did you take the main grounds off of the block, clean surface and put them back on. You should be able to find them-check the stud coming from the block and check the terminal on your ground wire. If the grounds are new (from re-wire), something may have gone wrong when he tightened everything back up-maybe a gound went bad after you ran the boat for a while. All of your new parts are certainly narrowing it down to wire or connection, and if the wireis new, I'm guessing connection. My mercrusier has two block gounds on the back of the block-they can definitely get sketchy if not checked once in a while.
This is turning into an old-fashioned barnraising.

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This thread is like a soap opera, I just cannot wait to see the latest developments. I can't wait to check in to see what is going on. I also second Chuck's commments. For 3k he would either be at my house until the problem was corrected or I would be at his house until the problem was corrected.

Good luck,

BA

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Well boys, many thanks to all here, especially Scott. I called him this afternoon and with in 10 minutes he had it figured out. Turns out that a wire was going to the wrong terminal on the back of the stater selonoid. I know it was nothing i did wrong as it was making the clicking sound before i changed the starter. Never the less, thank you Scott and everyone else. What a great site. you guys rock!!!!!!!!

Elijah

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:cool: Gentlemen...
Start your engines!!!!!!!!!

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YEE HAWWWW!!!!!!

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http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b1...1234/p4095.jpg


http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b1...1234/p4096.jpg

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Lookin great, guess she's starting and running right now.