Super Jet Electrical Gremlin....

[kraqus]

My RN would not start this morning. The battery was fully charged. I tried jump starting it to rule out the Battery being bad. Nothing....just click after click after click. I think is the Starter Motor but How can I be 100% sure it is. Any ideas how to troubleshoot?

Thanks!


Benny

 

[Idok]

first check it with a different battery...

by jumping I assume you mean yoiu pulled the ebox and put a screwdriver across the solenoid ???

 

[Idok]

oops sorry read too quick......

next test....hold the starter button down for a few seconds

then feel all the cables...see if any of them are HOT to the touch



if one of em gets hot, then it could a bad cable and you have too much resistance

 

[kraqus]

Cables are fine. I touched everything in there. I also smelled it looking for burnt odors. Still all you hear when you press the Start button is...Click! no cranking whatsoever.

Thanks for the input!


Benny

 

[Idok]

pull it and test it w/some jumper cables...

 

[nightrider05]

Not too many things you can really rule out...

Starter solenoid, negative/positve cable and then starter.

I personally would start at the starter and work my way backwords. Hook power straight up to the starter if you can access it. If starter works, then you look at cables and solenoid.

This makes me curious...does yamaha list the normal unloaded draw of the starter motor? Meaning under no load and power applied, how many amps does it draw? Would be a good test with an amp clamp on the bench. If its drawing excessive amperage you know its worn out/dirty.

 

[kraqus]

It is a mother%$%# to get it out of there but I will......
so what should I expect when I apply the current?


Benny

 

[nightrider05]

It can be done with the starter still hooked up. However you would still be leaving the positive cable in the mix.

Unhook the positive wire from secondary side of the starter solenoid. Take a jumper cable and hook to it. Then touch the other(negative) jumper cable to any bare metal on the motor. Of course your other end of your jumpers would be hooked to a battery. There will be some arcing...make sure no gas vapors are present...also make sure to not ground it to anything pretty....can leave some burn marks(not bad...just small marks where it arcs). If you want to avoid arcing to the motor...just hook your cables up to the motor as mentioned above leaving cables unhooked from your supply voltage(battery)...then hook to battery.

Starter should turn motor over freely with current directly applied. Make sure your lanyard is not plugged in, or just remove spark plug wires as a precautionary aspect.

 

[Iland Trader]

What nightrider05 said above. See also: http://www.x-h2o.com/threads/105027-Abnormal-Starter-Draw
Of the two times I've heard the 'click-click' but no starter problem -first time was a bad ground, the second time around was a bad starter. The other two times it did not start (but without the clicking solenoid) was- bad connections in the white plug off the start/stop and last time was rotten cables. If you've got a pipe leave the motor in and do what they say above by directly applying a known good 12V source via the jumper cables- use both legs of the cable to isolate any issue in the stock wiring. My experience has been that if its a stock exhaust on there taking up all that room it will cause you far less grief to just yank the motor out and do it on the bench and that could even be true with an a/m pipe also.

 

[NVJAY775]

I've had a couple issues like Iland Trader has had. And for me it's easy and quick to just pull the motor and get right to the starter. Two seasons ago I sheered a starter bolt and it bound the starter so it wouldn't turn. But it did click. Do all the troubleshooting you can while it's still in there first though. It sucks when you pull it and find a bad ground. Keep us posted bro!

 

[kraqus]

DAMN! I am an idiot.
I already pulled the Starter out.
I have another one from my SN (701cc) I will try see if it fires up.
But I should have done what you guys suggested, which is the correct way to isolate the problem.
Oh Well, this is a great learning experience.


Benny

 

[ISeeWetPeople]

are you sure that its not bendix that is jammed??

 

[chriselmore_1]

Make sure the battery terminals are tightened and not corroded..... Sounds stupid but would cause that exact problem

 

[mgander17]

Make sure the battery terminals are tightened and not corroded..... Sounds stupid but would cause that exact problem

Yeah this just happened to me, cleaned terminals on battery and fired up

 

[kraqus]

are you sure that its not bendix that is jammed??

Dunno yet.

Make sure the battery terminals are tightened and not corroded..... Sounds stupid but would cause that exact problem

This is not it as I tried Jumping the ski with my truck, I went as far as disconnecting the cables and connecting them directly to the Jump start cables.



Benny

 

[kraqus]

SO I swapped the Starter with a good one and the same thing....Click! Clack! I am going to the Hardware store to get some wiring and gator clamps so I can test the Starter by itself next using a battery. I really doubt this second starter could be faulty.....but..... If I get the starter to crank, then I officially have a Gremlin in my ski.....ha ha!





Benny

 

[Proformance1]

Take the starter and hook cables to it pos to pos and then neg to case then touch the neg to batt while someone else is holding starter or put it in a vise. This will most likely work and next is to open up ebox and short across solenoid to check for that being bad

 

[Iland Trader]

This sounds identical to my last problem, which turned out to be a salt-rotten ground cable. Your issue is likely a bad connection or failing cable(s) at this point. If you bench test the starter and test continuity across the solenoid (before you open up the ebox and have to go through that hassle) you'll know where that gremlin has set up shop. More on pulling the motor - I feel its a good thing to do occasionally anyhow, clean up that bilge, check mounts and hoses/clamps, overall condition of the motor, etc.

Seriously though, while your at this stage of disassembly do yourself a favor and consider hooking your stator up with some sort of proven quick disconnect and also consider the solenoid post relocate (both I got earlier form JSS) that makes the engine removal a whole lot less of a pain if the ebox can stay behind. I think it took around 10 minutes to pull mine last time and Johns stuff is top notch.

 

[kraqus]

Click! Clack! Click! Clack!

Benny

 

[nightrider05]

I think you found the problem!!