80 HP Mercury outboard - SN 8154532

[rcroost]

My son recently purchased this older boat and motor. We hooked up battery and tried to raise the motor with electric trim switch. Nothing but "clicking".

Tried to turn over motor and only "clicking".

Clicking appears to be coming from top solenoid.

Can we assume the solenoid is bad? It looks like (from parts diagram and motor) that there might be 2 required. Is that true? Would both need to possibly be replaced?

Thanks,

rcroost

 

[galamb]

Clicking generally indicates a solenoid.

If you are getting a clicking on the trim/tilt solenoid's AND the starter solenoid the first thing I would check is the battery. While it is possible that all three solenoid's are blown, no sense changing them only to find that the battery is toast.

It could also be rotted wires, bad grounds etc - if the motor has been sitting it may require a lot of TLC before she comes back to life.

PS - that's an Aussie serial number. My Australian serial list is minimal at best but my best guess would be an 1980 or 1981 model.

 

[Mastermerctech]

Definitely sounds like your battery is half dead! Put a meter on it and see how many volts it has. Then turn the key to start and see how much the volts drop. Anything below 10 volts at cranking, battery is no good!

 

[rcroost]

Thank you both for your help. I have done some further study and have made further progress but still out of my element here., so thank you for bearing with me.

The SN is OB 154532 - 3 cylinder

1. I replaced 3 solenoids (2 trim and 1 starter) with new
2. Starter would still not engage and found it was bad
3. Replaced starter with new - now I have starter that engages when key is turned
4. Trim would not work only clicked solenoid
5. Found trim motor would not spin
6. Replaced motor with new, however, new motor used relays instead of solenoids
7. took out 2 trim solenoids and installed 2 trim relays
8. Trim now works, however, starter motor spins when we trim up or down.

Is this normal that starter motor spins when using trim?

 

[flyingscott]

Absolutely not, the starter should not spin when using the trim. Find a wiring diagram and go back through it.

 

[johnnygjr]

Sounds like a trim wire and a starter wire ae touching each other or relays are wired incorrectly