95 Merc 43 intermittant starting

"This started Memorial Day and

"This started Memorial Day and has me stumped. Sometimes it starts right up and sometimes it just clicks. I've replaced: battery, starter and soilenoid, positive and negative batt cables, checked all terminations and they are clean. When it clicks, I can usually get it started by moving the throttle around in neutral and trying again. I removed the cut-out switch from the circuit(the one on the trans.linkage on the engine)-no difference. I bypassed the neutral switch in the throttle housing- no difference. Ahhh!! Please advise! Thanks-Chris"

"may be a stupid question but

"may be a stupid question but do you have it wired correctly? One big post goes to batt, other big post goes directly into the starter. One small post is connected to the ignition. Other is not hooked up. Correct me if i'm wrong.

Also, typically, a clicking noise means the solenoid is shot. If you repeatedly try to start the motor and it heats up then it will go bad/stick."

"what about the "slave sol

"what about the "slave solenoid"?and reconnect the switch on the shift plate ,otherwise you won`t be able to shift out of gear."

"Starter solenoid wired correc

"Starter solenoid wired correctly-wired it exactly like the one I replaced...both small posts are used. I removed the switch plate switch to eliminate it as a problem. I will put it back on. Where is the slave solenoid? Another thought I had was that one of the small posts on the new starter solenoid might be bad b/c when I was attaching the wire to it, it never got real tight and it might be turning inside the solenoid and getting a bad connecton on the inside."

when i tighten down the bolts

when i tighten down the bolts on the solenoid i usually tighten them until the bolt turns. Never had a problem with it.

"Chris, I have had the same i

"Chris, I have had the same issue with my '88 4.3LX. I have never been able to solve it, even after replacing ign switch, slave solenoid, adding extra ground wires etc. I cane to the conclusion that the starter solenoid was hanging up in the tube that it travels in to engage the bendix gear and make the electrical connection to spin the starter. Since I used all rebuilt starters, they have some wear in this area. When my current starter fails, I will try a new one. Until then, I have it working well enough (1 bad try out of 8- good tries)."

"Thanks everybody. Chris1956-

"Thanks everybody. Chris1956- your diaganosis is odd but might be right on... I just had my starter rebuilt. My click to start ratio is about 50:50, but I can always get it to start(in my driveway anyway). I wouldn't care too much about it, but I could see myself and my family miles from anywhere and it decide not to start at all. Since my uncle works at the stealership and I have given up, he said he would take it in a try to figure it out without charging me a fortune. I will post the diagnosis if I get one."