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1982 50hp Evinrude Solenoid question

M

Mac300

Member
Pulled the boat out of storage for first time last week. Turned the key and solenoid just clicked, no voltage to started. Awesome. Used an insulated pair of pliers to bridge the 2 large terminals and got it to crank. Ordered a new solenoid and installed last night. I removed the positive battery cable, removed the old solenoid, replaced the with new solenoid, went to reconnect the battery terminal and the starter engaged immediately. Switch was in the off position. I assume it is a defective solenoid but could I have messed up something when I bridged the solenoid? I’ve done that a hundred times on various boats, tractors, mowers etc. Is there a voltage test Or something I can do on the incoming wires to confirm?

thanks
 
Mac300 said:
Pulled the boat out of storage for first time last week. Turned the key and solenoid just clicked, no voltage to started. Awesome. Used an insulated pair of pliers to bridge the 2 large terminals and got it to crank. Ordered a new solenoid and installed last night. I removed the positive battery cable, removed the old solenoid, replaced the with new solenoid, went to reconnect the battery terminal and the starter engaged immediately. Switch was in the off position. I assume it is a defective solenoid but could I have messed up something when I bridged the solenoid? I’ve done that a hundred times on various boats, tractors, mowers etc. Is there a voltage test Or something I can do on the incoming wires to confirm?

thanks
Click to expand...
Should be no voltage on yellow/red stripe terminal with key off. Is it the correct solinoid?
 
I seriously doubt the solenoid could be defective in such a manner as to cause what you described. More likely it is installed wrong or wrong solenoid.
 
I’ll try my best to explain this...Went back to make sure I reconnected the solenoid properly. It was...I can screw up anything but you’d have to try hard to wire this wrong! I removed the solenoid And reconnected the battery. I tested the voltage at the orange striped wire with the switch off and there was no voltage. I then checked continuity and I have a fault to ground it appears. I have continuity between ground And the wire running from the bottom of the solenoid to the starter. I also have continuity between the wire at the top of the solenoid which comes directly from the battery and the big wire from the bottom of the solenoid that goes to the starter. my meter is only registering continuity on these 2 wires in one direction, and by that I mean if I crisscross the leads It will not show continuity. I’ve never noticed a situation before where I can swap the leads on the wires I’m testing and have one time it show continuity another time it does not. I tried a second voltmeter and got the exact same result. The wire from the bottom of the solenoid going to the starter has continuity to both terminals of the battery. I do not notice any obvious places were a wire his lost insulation and is touching the frame. Any suggestions? I assume my first dayStep would be to pull the wire going from the bottom of the Solenoid to the starter? This solenoid is the one Marine Engine said was the correct one. Thanks
 
You totally lost me. But continuity in one direction only suggests you are testing across a diode. Any chance you are involving the alternator rectifier in this? A red wire connects the rectifier to the battery post on the solenoid
 
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You have two big posts on the solenoid. One of them only has a fat red cable going to the starter. The other one has a fat red cable coming from the battery, plus two thinner red wires. Electrically, you could swap the big posts, but do it which ever way fits the situation best.

If you put a continuity meter between one of those two thinner red wires, and ground, you will be testing across the rectifier and it will show continuity in one direction only.

Other than that, I dunno what you are doing wrong.
 
I isolated the wires off the solenoid. My solenoid is as you described, the fat wire from the battery to the top of the solenoid, with two thin red wires to that same top terminal, a fat red wire from the bottom of the solenoid to the starter and then two small terminals with a ground wire and another wire that I believe brings voltage to it. I separated all the wires and the fat wire going from the bottom of the solenoid to the starter has continuity to ground.I put one lead on that wire and another lead to the positive battery terminal and had continuity. Then I placed the lead to the negative battery terminal and had continuity also. I don’t know if that’s normal it just seemed odd to me. I did not think about the diode but I did have the two red wires separate from the wire from the battery to the solenoid when I was testing continuity. Should the wire from Solenoid to the starter have continuity to ground? In my mind I’m just thinking with the positive cable coming through the solenoid it would be a short if it had continuity to ground also?
 
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Maybe none of this matters but back to my original question...couldn’t the solenoid be stuck in the position allowing current to run through it as soon As I make the battery connection? However, I don’t have continuity on those terminals so I guess that’s not the case
 
A 12 volt circuit can be difficult to understand.---But consider this , 12 volts in the wire from the solenoid goes through the starter and then to ground.
 
I guess what is confusing me is the positive wire showing continuity to ground which in my simple mind means a short. Weird thing is this was t a problem until I connected this new solenoid. Maybe I need to hook 12 volts to the solenoid and check to see if it opens and closes the circuit. Thanks for your help.
 
But a 12 volt circuit must go through a LOAD ( starter ) before it goes to ground.----Or if you just connect 12 volts to the terminal on the starter nothing will happen until you touch the starter housing to ground !
 
Update- I just tested the solenoids. New one- No continuity between the large terminals with the switch off. Continuity with the switch on. Constant continuity between the small terminals with switch off or on. The old solenoid had no continuity between the big terminals with the switch on or off. The small terminals had continuity with switch off and no continuity with switch on. Still made a loud click though.
 
racerone said:
But a 12 volt circuit must go through a LOAD ( starter ) before it goes to ground.----Or if you just connect 12 volts to the terminal on the starter nothing will happen until you touch the starter housing to ground !
Click to expand...

Ok, that makes sense now. Please see my prior post about solenoid. What seems to be happening is the solenoid is being bypassed and current is going straight to starter when I connect battery cable...even though the solenoid is hooked up. And as I just verified no continuity thru solenoid terminals without turning switch. However the starter turns immediately upon connecting battery terminal without turning switch. It’s as if there is no break in the circuit??
 
racerone said:
Post the part # of the solenoid that you have installed !
Click to expand...
85E42A36-30F7-4D98-B9AA-1E3174176EAC.jpeg
 
Did you charge the battery after the storage ?------I would test the original solenoid and perhaps put it back on the motor for a test.----Where was the boat stored ?---Indoors or outdoors ?---This is not making any sense.----And the factory solenoids are very good and reliable.----Also used on 300 HP so it is quite a capable solenoid !!
 
This is getting too confusing. Personally, I would be making voltage tests rather than continuity tests. The only thing I can think of that makes sense is the possibility of the solenoid being energized as soon as you attach the battery. Do you hear the solenoid click when you connect the battery? It shouldn't until you turn the key. I say check the voltage on the two small solenoid posts. Should be zero on both with key not turned and 12V on one of them with key turned, and solenoid will click. Other one should always be zero because it is grounded. Before you ask, the two small posts are interchangeable.
 
I did not charge the battery. It shows 12.54 volts and turns the motor over strong. I tested the old solenoid and had continuity between the 12 volt power wire and ground terminals when switch was off and no continuity when switch was on. No continuity on large terminals with switch on or off. This is a typical day for me! Thanks for your advice and I’ll tinker with it some more this evening and post results.
 
Ok- went home for lunch and re-evaluated everything. I have wire from battery to large solenoid terminal (battery cable not connected to battery terminal at this point). Wire from other large terminal to starter. 12 volt supply wire to small terminal on solenoid and ground wire from block to other small terminal. 2 red wires combined on 1 ring connector also attached to large terminal that wire from the battery is connect to. If I touch the battery cable to the battery it immediately engages the starter...no time to hear a click. The switch is off. I did confirm I have 12 volts at the small terminal (not the ground) when the switch is on and no voltage when the switch is off. As someone said earlier, it’s like the solenoid is energized. I obviously am no expert but it seems as if the solenoid is not breaking the circuit between the battery and starter. I’ll put the old one back on just to see what it does.
 
Just installed the old one and did not have the issue with the engine trying to crank. It just had the click which it had before so at this point I have to believe it’s a defective solenoid?
 
UPDATE-got the replacement solenoid in and installed it. Worked like a champ and the motor cranked right up. Apparently the first one was defective. That’s for everyone’s input...I did learn some new stuff! For what it’s worth...the first solenoid I bought was a Sierra brand...second was OEM...$10 more but certainly worth it.
 
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