Outboard starter not engaging

[lookin4fish]

I have an 94 evinrude 25 hp and i am having problems with the starter. the starte runs (spins at full speed), but does not pop up and engage to turn over the engine. it did this earlier this year but then just started working again on its own. tonight it acted up again. do you guys have any ideas what is causing this? do I need to have the starter looked at or is it something with the solinoid??? thanks

[marine_man]

Try and take some WD-40 and spray the ring gear area and the path that it runs up. It could just be gunked up enough that it won't kick it in.

If that doesn't do it, you may need to replace / rebuild the starter.

marine_man

[boatfixer]

I agree with MM

[DTro]

Having the same issues with my 25hp Merc, will try the lubricating trick, thanks!

[lookin4fish]

Ring gear area?? is that just the area below the gear? I assume since ther is not any other areas of moving parts exposed. thanks

[boatfixer]

Yes, the helical shaft that the pinion gear rides up and down on.

[Twins 57 Fan]

If the battery does not have a full charge that can cause it too. Make sure all of your connections are good and that the starter is receving enough juice to get it going. If all that is good, only then you should look at replacing.

[cribbageboy]

I had the same problem with my 40 horse outboard. Even though the threaded shaft that the gear rides up and down on my not look dirty, it still could be. I sprayed it with WD-40, blasted it with an air hose, and it worked fine. It is amazing how little dirt and grim can cause it to not engage on the flyweel.

[PSourasinth]

I also had the same problem with my starter, on my 1987 Mercury 70. What I did wrong was I didn't realize that I swapped the cables when I hooked it to the battery. So I swapped the hookups and that was the problem.

[propster]

Had the same issue last year on '95 Merc 150. First time fix was clean up and WD40. When it did it again a month or so later, thanks to the guys here, cleaned up all the battery connections and anchored them with nylock stainless nuts instead of wing nuts. Haven't had a problem since. Though I doubted it, a good connection to get full juice from the battery was key. Good luck

[lookin4fish]

Just an update...I tried the wd40 without success. ended up taking it to a motor parts store that rebuilds starters. it was exactly what most of you were saying. the gear was stuck on the shaft. i just had them replace the gear itself and lube it up. now it works fine. the cost for them to fix the starter after i brought it in was $44. I think i could of taken care of it the mself, but i was worried once i took apart the starter to get to the shaft, i would have not been able to get it back together correctly. thanks for your input!

[gizmoguy]

I had the same problem on my 95 175 EFi merc. Lube helped for a while but the the problem kept returning. What I figured out was when the motor started it could throw the gear back down the shaft on the starter hard making it kind-of wedge on the shaft and stick. The gear spins up the shaft to engage the fly wheel and the motor can spin it back down, hard. I fixed it by using an air impact wrench to remove the nut on the end of the shaft. I removed the starter gear and placed an o-ring on the shaft. This way the starter gear couldn't wedge down on the shaft because the o-ring was between the gear and the starter motor. Worked like a charm. Haven't had a problem since.