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200HP Yamaha 4 stroke won't turn over?

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smartcar.passion

New member
My 2004 Yamaha 200HP 4 stroke engine won't turnover. I first thought it was the battery but I'm pretty sure now that it's not. I used heavy duty jumper cables from my running truck directly to the outboards starter. the starters gear engages the flywheel but from that point it only clicks. I pulled the spark plugs out of the engine thinking the engine might be seized up and it does exactly the same thing, just clicks...... I can rotate the flywheel easily with my hands when the spark plugs are out so I figure the inners of the engine are fine.

Any thoughts on what the problem might be?

thank you in advance.....
 
This issue is most often a corroded terminal on one of the battery cables or a faulty battery switch if you have one. The terminals might look fine if they are heat shrinked, but usually a faulty one will bend at the end of the terminal crimp much easier than a good one.
 
Year and serial#s help.The starter is easy to check.Take it apart clean the brushes.
Sometimes the jumper cables won't be enough.
When you go to Pep-Boys or Auto Zone or who evers in your neighborhood(profile,location)take your batter along and get it tested.
Or,Harbor Freight, Battery Tester about $25.Saves a lot of trip to the auto parts store.J
 
smartcar.passion said:
My 2004 Yamaha 200HP 4 stroke engine won't turnover. I first thought it was the battery but I'm pretty sure now that it's not. I used heavy duty jumper cables from my running truck directly to the outboards starter. the starters gear engages the flywheel but from that point it only clicks. I pulled the spark plugs out of the engine thinking the engine might be seized up and it does exactly the same thing, just clicks...... I can rotate the flywheel easily with my hands when the spark plugs are out so I figure the inners of the engine are fine.

Any thoughts on what the problem might be?

thank you in advance.....
Click to expand...

Been a while, but this sounds like a hydro locked motor. Mercury had a defective design on a $20 vacuum hose that they run in the fuel pump housing and it ruptures sucking fuel directly into the intake manifold flooding the lower cylinder. This locks up the motor and can destroy the starter and take a big chunk of life out of your battery as it tries to turn over this locked up motor. I suppose you could be so unlucky to have this happen when underway and locking up the cylinder could do internal damage (bent rod?). Also, your cylinder wall oil will be washed off and the excess gas will also get into your oil (ever hear of mercury 4-strokes making oil?). So watch out for this defective design. Ask me how I know. Mercury was no help at all with this and did not acknowledge the horrible design defect. They did offer to sell me a new hose at full price (it turns out its a much higher PSI rated hose than the originals that fail. duh. So anyway, hope this helps someone fix their motor if they have this problem or avoid a manufacturer that has poor designs and offers no help to customers when their defective design causes downtime and damage to the motors they sell.

Also, if you have a 4-stroke mercury check the air filter. Mine was deteriorating so badly when I touched it the foam crumbled. There are reports of engines sucking in the foam that deteriorates on these again, poorly designed filters. They were replaced with a pricey new P/N(take advantage of a poor design needing replacement) $85 metal element filter that is what should have been there to start with. Glad I caught the air filter issue when fixing the other defect. Prior to my 2006 merc 115 4-stroke I had a reliable 1972 Johnson 50hp that had none of these horrible design issues.
 
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