Mariner 115 Starter motor issue

[CRAFTY24]

Hi Guys,

Decided to fire the boat up on Saturday as it had been a while due to work/family and the weather was looking great for Sunday. Took a little bit of time but she fired up and idled nicely in the driveway. I shut it down to check all the gear over and went to fire it up again but all i could hear was the starter motor turning but no engine crank. Popped the cover off and turned the key and I could see the starter motor spinning but not engaging. Grabbed a screw driver and just popped the cog up slightly, turned the key and broom no probs. It was a bit hit and miss after this as i turned it on and off but most of the time it was like the cog on the starter was getting stuck. If i just touched it with my fingers and popped it up a few cm it would be fine but once the motor was running it would sit back down and the same problem would happen.

I really think it is something minor. I tried a little grease incase it was stuck but it didn't really help.

Thoughts????

Also is that "captain red nut" who leaves mobile mechanic flyers on your window when parked at Scarborough boat ramp? If not does anyone have the details? I have had 10 of those flyer on my window but never kept one. I am out of town this week so I may need a mobile guy to check it out for me.

Dave

[lethal098]

Sounds like the starter needs some work, easy enough to pull out and send down to your local auto electrician,

Cheers Lee

[Noelm]

very common, just give it a clean (the spline and gear that is) and a spray with WD40 and it's fixed.

[finga]

I give mine a squirt of inox every now again.

[CRAFTY24]

So I tried the the wd40 and worked it but no good. It gets stuck sometimes when it is at the bottom of the spline, like it's catching. It moves freely but I just have to pop the cog up with my fingers then turn they key. Might need an auto elec to look at it I think.

[Noelm]

an auto elect will fix it, but I kind of think it is not beyond the average home mechanic, just have a real close look at what could be causing it to catch/jamb

[finga]

The lower section may need a bit of work to free it up.
That is where all the 'stickiness' will be as that is where the little sprocket sits in the years of accumulated water and sticky goop for most of it's life.
There's sure to be a build up of something 'nasty' there.
Pull the little sprocket dodad up and have a gander at the shaft. Is it nice and shiny like the top section of the shaft?

[CRAFTY24]

Do you think it is possible that the batteries are not charged enough? I have not charged them since December. My battery lamp indicator shows them both as flat but it still seems to spin fairly quickly. I read on another forum that was the problem a guy had. His batteries were flat and it was not spinning fast enough to throw the cog up. I would have thought that the motor just would not have turned over at all if it was flat.

Might just be clutching at straws but I have one of the batteries on charge now and will test when I get home.

[Noelm]

it is certainly possible I guess, but you would think if the battery was that flat, it would not turn over the motor too fast if at all!

[Duckfish]

Had a Mariner 125hp which is bascially the same as the 115hp and they call that gear a Bendix gear. Do not luricate that gear. I think you are up for a new Bendix gear. My 2 bobs worth.
Duck

[finga]

They work on centrifugal force to drive the bendix up.
Not enough spinny in the motor and it won't go up.
Try a known good battery first before heading off to the auto-sparky dude.

[CRAFTY24]

Thanks for all the responses.

I charged one of the batteries but same problem.

I think Duckfish is spot on. I called into Cunningham Marine yesterday and spoke to Warren and he said exactly that. Apparently bit f a common problem with that model. The gear drops back to far and then over time creates a burr on the gear. That's when it starts catching. Not overly expensive to fix so I dropped the boat off this morning so he could check it out ind if need be order a new gear.

Will let you know how it gets on.

[CRAFTY24]

Just a follow up,

Picked the boat up this morning and all sweet. They put a new gear in which was $75 and problem gone. The old gear had a burr on the teeth so you can see where it has been catching. Now I just need it to stop raining this weekend to get it out.


Also big shout out to Cunningham Marine. Great service and good knowledgable guys.

[Jarrah Jack]

Thanks for letting us know the outcome Crafty, just as important as detailing the problem in the first place.

I take it that the Mariner is a rebadged Yami so there are a lot of them about.

[CRAFTY24]

Yeah Jarrah Jack thought people might want to know outcome for future searches on this thread.

Rebadged Merc so plenty around. Same motor as the Merc just different stickers I think.

[finga]

Yeah, rebadged Merc. The Yammi's were early in the piece. Up until about '78 or around that time.