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1989 Force 150 Outboard Starter

E

ezlivin

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"So I'm pretty sure the st

"So I'm pretty sure the starter is shot but I'd like a second opinion before I order a new one.

I was using the boat this morning and the thing wouldnt idle quite right after it started. At full load it seemed like it was "dragging" and instead of a top speed of 40-44mph it was doing about 33-35ish.

To make a long story short, it finally just wont start (after it died while trolling along) and when I pulled the cover off, looks like the starter isnt disengaging all the way and I'm guessing thas what was dragging on the flywheel. Plus out of the starter looks like some grease is leaking out of the top of it.

The battery reads full charge (good thing too), needed the trolling motor to get back to the dock, so I pretty sure thats not it. Gas gauge reads 40% so it shouldnt be a gas problem.

Anything else I'm missing? I'm pretty sure I need a new starter. It looks the issue was that it wasnt fully disengaging and probably busted while I was running the boat full out."
 
"Yep, sounds like the starter.

"Yep, sounds like the starter. Pull her off and look for a place local to you that rebuilds. Most can be rebuilt for about 1/3 the cost of a new one..."
 
"Haven't had much time lat

"Haven't had much time lately but I finally put on a new starter (made sure battery was completely charged up) and still have problems. Tried a known good battery from a friends boat and no go there either.

Pulled off the spark plugs (which had some fouling but nothing major, cleaned them) and with the starter and the plugs off tried to turn the flywheel by hand.

It'll go about 40% of a turn freely, then the next 10% of the turn you need some muscle to turn it, 40% freely,10% muscle etc. Is this normal or does it mean somethings binding?

From what I read it should be pretty easy to turn the flywheel by hand once the plugs are out since there is no compression. I have nothing else to compare it too.

So it's not the starter, not the battery, plugs look alright. What next?"
 
"hey erik, in my experience yo

"hey erik, in my experience you will still get a little bit of compression even with the plugs out.....I would say the simple start to fixing the problem would be to look at the engine ground. Corrosion can wreak havoc on a motor. Make sure the battery to engine ground ( or main battery negative cable ) and connections are clean and corrosion free. Assure you are getting 12 volts to the starter cable ( removed from the starter ) when you turn the key. A simple test would be to take a set of jumper cables and hook them to a known good battery and then the negative to the engine block...then touch the positive to the starter and see what happens.....if you get a good turn out of the starter then you have either corrosion or shorting issues.

Hope this helps!"
 
"I ended up putting a little b

"I ended up putting a little bit of oil down the plug holes and that seemed to loosen the binding up. Unfotunately with that being said I figured it was a gasket or a crack in the block.

Took it to a local mechanic for an inspection......crack in the block
So I'm currently shopping around for a new(er) motor since I can't see putting 2-3k in this one."
 
"Well I took it to another mec

"Well I took it to another mechanic and he thought that it wasn't a crack just a shallow scour mark instead of a through crack.

So on his advise I got the cylinder head machined back to level and put a new head gasket on, and now instead of water in the lower two cylinders its just the lower one.

One last question before I junk this thing, is there anyway to get the exhaust cover off easily? Some of the lower bolts are blocked by the cowl. He mentioned that one of the exhaust gaskets may be leaking as well.

Thanks again"
 
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