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HELP boat won't crank


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Hey guys, heres whats going on. I have an 05 Malibu VLX. was out at the lake and the engine just died. It was running great all day nothing out of the norm, volts, temp everything was great. It just died. When i go and turn the key all electrical boots up, and i turn the key and it just clicks once and it won't crank. I replaced the starter not it. I pulled the all plugs no water in the engine. still same thing. It won't crank at all. I tried turning the engine manualy on the fly wheel but no luck however when the starter ingages the wheel moves a little not much but no cranking. Any ideas? All conections look ok. It's not the batteries either the volts are good on both.

Edited by wakebear79
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Were there any strange noises before it quit?

Try pulling the plugs and then turning motor by hand. It should turn over easily.

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If you have removed the plugs and can not get the motor to turn over by hand then you have a major issue. It doesnt always mean the motor is the problem though. Take your belt off and see if you can turn it over, i have seen alt, and pullys and waterpumps lock up and not let the motor turn over. If all that is free and you can still not turn the motor over look at the back end, did something lodge up in the flywheel area that would not allow it to turn over?

nothing on the front of the motor is keeping it from turning over

nothing in the rear of the motor is keeping it from turning over

the plugs are out and no water in cyl

oil is clean and metal free,

pull the valve covers make sure that all the spings are still intact and have valves still in them.

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Hey guys, heres whats going on. I have an 05 Malibu VLX. was out at the lake and the engine just died. It was running great all day nothing out of the norm, volts, temp everything was great. It just died. When i go and turn the key all electrical boots up, and i turn the key and it just clicks once and it won't crank. I replaced the starter not it. I pulled the all plugs no water in the engine. still same thing. It won't crank at all. I tried turning the engine manualy on the fly wheel but no luck however when the starter ingages the wheel moves a little not much but no cranking. Any ideas? All conections look ok. It's not the batteries either the volts are good on both.

How are you reading battery voltage? With a meter across + and - directly on batt (engine not running,... but of course it won't start, right!). If not,... do so. If voltage is below 12.6 volts,... charge the battery. If voltage is good then check it again while someone turns the key attempting to crank it. It shouldn't drop below about 10.5 volts. If it does drop below that your battery is bad (providing the engine is not locked up). Next thing, go over all your battery cable connections and make sure they are tight. If all is good to this point and the engine won't crank,.... remove your raw water pump and try to turn the engine over by hand (with a socket and long rachet). Is your oil up to full level? Let us know what happens

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yeah my oil level is good. And I have already checked the batteries and cables, they are all good. Next step i quess is to remove the water pump and try it.

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Stretching here for something very uncommon: dooes your starter motor turn, either electrically or physically? Perhaps the starter seized with the bendix engaged with the flywheel and now nothing turns. Just a thought. A weird thought. But what if . . . . .

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MalibuNation
Hey guys, heres whats going on. I have an 05 Malibu VLX. was out at the lake and the engine just died. It was running great all day nothing out of the norm, volts, temp everything was great. It just died. When i go and turn the key all electrical boots up, and i turn the key and it just clicks once and it won't crank. I replaced the starter not it. I pulled the all plugs no water in the engine. still same thing. It won't crank at all. I tried turning the engine manualy on the fly wheel but no luck however when the starter ingages the wheel moves a little not much but no cranking. Any ideas? All conections look ok. It's not the batteries either the volts are good on both.

Stabbing in the dark ... throttle engaged? Someone recently had this issue. Still wouldn't explain it dying.

Edited by MalibuNation
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So I got it up and running!!! So I took off the spark arrester on top of the engine and there were a few wire conections hidden between that and the air filter that were lose. So I made sure they were tight, and I messed with a few other electrical conections and it fired right up. Took it out to elsi tonight and ran it for an hour or two without a problem. So I quess its good to go. All I can figure is if it cuts out again I'll check the wires again or it might be a thrown engine bearing that reset and it might be a matter of time untell it throws again. Hopefully not because its running fine right now.

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So I got it up and running!!! So I took off the spark arrester on top of the engine and there were a few wire conections hidden between that and the air filter that were lose. So I made sure they were tight, and I messed with a few other electrical conections and it fired right up. Took it out to elsi tonight and ran it for an hour or two without a problem. So I quess its good to go. All I can figure is if it cuts out again I'll check the wires again or it might be a thrown engine bearing that reset and it might be a matter of time untell it throws again. Hopefully not because its running fine right now.

Bearings will sometimes "spin" and when this happens they wear very quickly and the engine will start to "knock". If this is ignored and the engine is allowed to continue running the next thing that usually happens is a "slung rod". Spun bearings do NOT reset themselves. I strongly doubt your engine has/had a bearing problem. Spun bearings are usually a result of low to zero oil pressure or starting up a new engine without pre-lubing. Another symptom of a spun bearing is low oil pressure. If pressure is good I believe your engine is fine.

Is your engine FI or carb? Just asking to get a hint of what the loose wires go to.

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Wake, after reading your original post again,... I'm thinking something's up with your battery. Batteries can do some really funny things when they start to go bad.

Edited by nuttyskier2002
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