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1976 Johnson 35hp starter solenoid issue

S

SaltyScot

Regular Contributor
I just picked up this motor and I'm trying to start it. The ignition wires were chopped when I bought it so I patched it back up(soldered and shrink wrap with new ignition switch). But it won't crank. It has 12v on the incoming side of the solenoid where the battery cable connects. And when I turn the key, I get 12v on the bottom two terminals, but nothing on the big guy that goes to the starter. So I pulled the solenoid off of my Evinrude 35 (which starts great) and I get the same thing. Do I just not understand how these solenoids work? Anything else I should be looking at? Thanks.

Stephen
 
Is the other little post grounded? Neutral safe switch out of adjustment....?? that's what's supposed to ground that other post.
 
Oh jeez:mad:. It was in forward. LOL I thought it was like the Mercs that have the NSS in the controller. Thanks Tim!

So i tried it again and it cranked a couple times and then it kinda sparked out the back near the ground strap. Now it just buzzes when I turn the key. So I probably fried it? There doesn't seem to be anything amiss with the wiring. Much better shape then my Rude 35.
 
buzzing is an indicator of a low voltage. Start at the battery, and if you are sure it is good, then remove and clean ALL battery cable connections. Don't just look at them or wiggle them---clean them shiny bright. If that doesn't work do some voltage drop tests. Do you know what that is?

EDIT: That sparking probably is where the poor connection is.
 
fdrgator said:
buzzing is an indicator of a low voltage. Start at the battery, and if you are sure it is good, then remove and clean ALL battery cable connections. Don't just look at them or wiggle them---clean them shiny bright. If that doesn't work do some voltage drop tests. Do you know what that is?

EDIT: That sparking probably is where the poor connection is.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I will give that a try. I did try cleaning my ground point from the battery, but I wasn’t totally convinced it’s clean. I think that’s where it sparked. I have a new wire brush drill attachment that I’ve been waiting for an excuse to use.
 
fdrgator said:
buzzing is an indicator of a low voltage. Start at the battery, and if you are sure it is good, then remove and clean ALL battery cable connections. Don't just look at them or wiggle them---clean them shiny bright. If that doesn't work do some voltage drop tests. Do you know what that is?

EDIT: That sparking probably is where the poor connection is.
Click to expand...
Keep in mind their are four battery cable connections.
 
Well, I don't understand this. I kept trying it while it was humming. Again and again and finally it cranked normally. I rechecked the voltage drop as before and it was just millivolts. I hooked up my spark checker and it even has spark! It did crank when I first tried it (in neutral anyway) yesterday and then sparked, stopped, and started humming. But now it seems fine. No changes were made between voltage drop tests. So maybe it is a tired solenoid?
 
Make sure you have perfect continuity to ground through that little terminal. Maybe your solenoid is going bad. Go ahead and ground that terminal to eliminate suspicion there. If it takes off when you put a jumper from positive cable coming into solenoid from battery, and the small activation terminal, then you have a low/inadequate activation voltage/amperage, coming from start switch or ignition.
 
timguy said:
Make sure you have perfect continuity to ground through that little terminal. Maybe your solenoid is going bad. Go ahead and ground that terminal to eliminate suspicion there. If it takes off when you put a jumper from positive cable coming into solenoid from battery, and the small activation terminal, then you have a low/inadequate activation voltage/amperage, coming from start switch or ignition.
Click to expand...

Thanks Tim, i see what you’re saying. I’ll try that the next time it buzzes.
 
Holy crap! It started up. It took a bit of cranking, but it fired. And it was some solid cranking. No funny shtuff.

Not bad for a "parts" motor that I got for $60. It does have a small crack in the lower unit, but it doesn't appear to be anything that JB weld can't handle.
 
Great....is the solenoid okay? Was it the starter? You never said what was really wrong. For us "contributors" it's fun to see if our suspicions were/are correct.
 
Frankly, i don’t know what happened. One second it was buzzing, the next it was back to normal. I imagine it could happen again at some point. I plan to rebrush the starter and have a spare solenoid on hand just in case.
 
Well, I JB welded up that crack and put it in a big bucket and she runs pretty good. No weird vibrations or oily residue in the bucket afterward, so it seems like the repair may work out. And the cranking issue didn't reappear. I've got three running now in the last 3 weeks. Thanks again for all the help. It'd be much harder without you guys!
 
Well, as was likely to be the case: it's doing it again. I tried jumping the smaller terminals as Tim suggested and got the same result. So since I have already tried swapping the solenoid with a known good one, I imagine I can assume that the starter needs rebuilt as Racer suggested.
 
It is so simple to take it apart for inspection !!----Maybe it just needs new brushes.----I got lots of brushes from starter alternator place $6.50 a set.
 
racerone said:
It is so simple to take it apart for inspection !!----Maybe it just needs new brushes.----I got lots of brushes from starter alternator place $6.50 a set.
Click to expand...

Hey, if you're offering to sell me some, I'm definitely interested. Feel free to pm me. Thanks.
 
And everything was fine until it wasn't.

It was running like it wasn't getting a good fuel supply, so I pulled the carb and installed a kit and replace the impeller. While I had the carb out, I replaced the starter brushes. I started it several times to check the fuel flow. Seemed much better. But now it won't start again. Same deal as before. Just humming. I took this week off of work to have fun in my hydro and am not finding cooperation from these motors. Dang. Wish I didn't sell my Mercury now.
 
So I went ahead and replaced the starter with that of my overheated Evinrude and it hasn't let me down once in dozens of tries.
 
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