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Honda BF225 acting like battery is dead… it’s not

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Artcha

Member
Hi, I’m starting to have an intermittent issue with one of my BF225s, they are both about 2011 with 1350 hours each.
The stb engine acts like the battery is dead, very lightly attempts to turn over and clicks, it’s not consistent as I retry. I know it’s not the battery as I flipped the emergency joiner and turned off the potential bad battery with the same result. I’ve also checked and every place I can find where there is a connection is tight and corrosion free. Batteries are brand new blue top optimas and show 12.9 at rest.

Could this be a failing starter or other component?

I have a big trip planned in 8 days so any advice would be greatly appreciated.
thanks!
 
Hi,
Well, it could be a starter failing...or the solenoid. But if you simply looked at the connections and noted their tightness, that's not really good enough. The connection can corrode and not look like it. Taking each one apart and wire brushing until shiny is the only real way to ensure full contact.

There is though a handy way to "electrically see" how good each connection is by using a technique.called voltage drop testing. You can volt drop test an entire circuit to find the total voltage loss within it AND/OR you can volt drop each connection individually to find a badly connected one and not have to take off each one to clean it.

It simply takes a decent dvom meter and the knowledge. You can pinpoint bad connections, bad wires, bad switches and bad battery cables.

There are many, many great tutorials on the web as to how to volt drop test. A real labor and time saving approach to troubleshooting a problem like this. Well worth the time to learn how.

It's important to understand that voltage drop testing is done while the circuit is operating. Unlike simply using the volt meter to read static voltage that's present....like checking the volts on a battery or at a switch terminal...you use the meter to find exactly how much voltage is being "stolen" or dropped across a particular section of a circuit.

As an example, if you put the positive lead of the meter on the battery cable end where it slips over and connects to the starter positive stud and put the negative lead directly on the stud... you will get no reading.
But if you then have someone briefly crank the engine, you will see a voltage reading. What you are seeing is the small (hopefully) amount of voltage that is being "lost" across that particular connection. On each connection you choose to check, the volts reading should be very, very small. I like to see 0.010mv (ten millivolts) or less on most connections but I believe 0.025mv is considered acceptable.

If you want to do your own electrical troubleshooting, voltage drop testing is something well worth learning and practicing.

Good luck
 
Hi again,
I forgot to mention that this sort of "no crank" problem is often due to a poor ground. Bad ground connections probably cause more issues than on the positive side just because grounds are often overlooked and often harder to access.

The beauty of volt drop testing is that it works on ANY connection, positive or ground. AS LONG AS THE CIRCUIT IS ACTIVATED.

Also forgot to say that, if you suspect a bad positive or negative battery cable might be causing this you can carefully use a car jumper cable to go from your BATT switch to starter or from battery ground to starter case ground and see if it makes a difference.
I just like using voltage drop testing instead....it's easier.

Good luck.
 
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The battery cables themselves would be suspect here. They are very capable of corroding internally - to the point they do what you are describing. You may, or may not be able to see this as a bulge/swollen section. Problem could be anywhere from one end to the other, but the area where they enter the motor is always my first place to look....

You could use jumper cables to troubleshoot, or just move the cables from the good engine over to the one with the issue.
 
Very helpful, thank you, I did some more testing since the original post.
disabling the safety switch I cranked the engine, from the multimeter I get high 11 volts while cranking (11.8-9), I get the exact same from the n2k Honda/simrad gauge (the n2k backbone has a different power supply)
I think this rules out wiring, all wires are oversized ancor tinned stuff. The only connection points are covered and look to still have dielectric grease on them, will confirm by taking the two most exposed apart. I assume this rules out wiring. The only thing I didn’t do is attach the negative on the Mm to the battery nagative and the + to the large starter wire, I instead used the terminal post behind the engine where the stock wiring meets the 4/0 from the battery switch.

The second observation is that the starter always tries to turn over, meaning I don’t think it’s the solenoid or the ignition switch in the cabin.

The thing I have not done is use jumper cables to bypass the wiring completely, will test that today.

Is there anything else I could possibly be overlooking before I spend the money to overnight a starter?

really appreciate the help!
 
I tested with the jumper cables, same result so I am pretty certain wiring is good. It’s intermittent which is irritating to identify the cause.
I am not 100 percent sure it’s not the key/switch or solenoid, I noticed at one attempt I kept the key in the crank position for a few seconds with no response and then suddenly it started right up. I tried to measure the solenoid voltage but of course it never happened with the multimeter hooked up.

I didn’t have time to pull the key panel off and inspect it but I guess that plus more looking at the solenoid are next steps. Not sure it’s worth ordering a starter but open to suggestions.
 
Myself, I hate throwing parts at an issue - especially expensive ones.

Erratic has bad connection written all over it. Don't forget to check the grounds!
 
I think I am good on grounds as I did my jumper cable tests one side at a time then both on.
next steps are to trace the starter solenoid wire and make sure it and any connections are good. i also want to pull the key unit off and try swapping outboards to see if that transfers the problem.
holding off on new parts for now…
 
Closing the loop on this, first of all thank you everyone for the push not to assume it was the starter. I believe I have isolated it to the actual key mechanism which also explains why its different each attempt, pushing downward on the key when attempting to start works every time. Interesting that its the thing that went despite being in an enclosed and dry cabin, will try and fix it or replace when I have time but keeping a bit of downward pressure is working fine for now.
Now I just need to find the oil leak when the engine is tilted up but that's a problem for another day...
Thanks again!
AC
 
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