Mercruiser 50 Electrical Problems

"I have a 2003 4Winns with a 5

"I have a 2003 4Winns with a 5.0 Mercruiser. It has an intermittent electrical problem where it will not start (sometimes solenoid clicks, sometimes not) Has been happening for as long as I have owned it. Seems to happen mostly when cold. Lately it seems that I can trigger the problem by having the blowers running when I try to start it. I have a new battery and have cleaned all the connections between the battery and solenoid including ground wire. Have also cleaned the contacts at the ignition switch. 4Winns manual for this year is virtually useless as wiring diagram is not for the 2003 210. Any help would be much appreciated."

"Likely a bad slave solenoid o

"Likely a bad slave solenoid or starter solenoid.
First make sure you have +12 volts at the yel/red wire at the slave sol when the key is in the start position.
Then try jumpering the heavy contacts on the slave solenoid (shud be red/pur to yel/red). This will make a rather big spark but don't worry about that. Its only 12 volts; it won't kill you.
If it repeatedly cranks OK doing this, its the slave that is bad.
Otherwise its the starter sol or the starter itself. Either way it has to come out and be serviced.

Rod"

Thanks for quick reply Rod. T

Thanks for quick reply Rod. There is 12.7V at the large terminal at 12:00 o' clock on the solenoid (w/90Amp fuse and where a red and an orange wire attach). There is a smaller gauge yellow wire which connects at the 3:00 o' clock terminal on the solenoid. That connection was initially dead (no voltage) when I first tried cranking the engine. After several tries I saw voltage (8V and rising) at that connection and the starter kick in. Seems to me that the started and solenoid might be OK... perhaps is something else like the neutral switch on the throttle? Thanks much for your help.

If the battery is good and ful

If the battery is good and fully charged it should read 13.5 volts across the terminals. The 12.7 volts is low at the starter. What does the battery read? The battery and starter points shoild read the same volts or the red battery wire is bad.

"Rick;
That almost for sure m

"Rick;
That almost for sure means your slave solenoid is bad. Its the one that is up on top near the 50 amp circuit breaker usually.
Test is as I suggested above to confirm.
The good news is you dopn't have to remove the starter to change it, unlike the starter solenoid.

Rod"

"Rod -
You are the man. Got

"Rod -
You are the man. Got the new slave solenoid from MarineEngine.com and starting problem has been solved. We had a great day on the lake yesterday. Just to be sure, I disassembled the old solenoid and found a corroded contact which was the cause of the intermittent function. THANK YOU so much for your sage advice.
Rick"