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Won't start


Tnwakeboarder86

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04 vlx.  It cranked first time after storage ran 3 hours. Then it made loud noise every time I tried to start..but it wouldn't. Guy said it was starter,so replaced it. Now just makes a click...replaced both batteries..nothing..any suggestions? Also what's the red light under the safety lanyard?  It is lit up? Does this mean fuse out? Or safety bad? Any suggestions at all? It just makes a click noise, stereo turns on and all Guages go..still bilge works...help me guys!!! I miss the lake already

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Hopefully it's not water in one or more of the cylinders. That could cause it to strain the starter and start to lock up like that. Can you pull the plugs and try to crank or turn over manually like jbower suggested? It's normal for the check engine light to be on when the ignition is on and engine is not running.

Edited by drh
typo
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3 hours ago, drh said:

Hopefully it's not water in one or more of the cylinders. That could cause it to strain the starter and start to lock up like that. Can you pull the plugs and try to crank or turn over manually like jbower suggested? It's normal for the check engine light to be on when the ignition is on and engine is not running.

This happened to me with the monsoon 340. It can happen when you stop slowly and a flapper malfunctions etc. I am now in the camp of if it hard starts pull the plug every time. Damper plate would be another (less likely) culprit.

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14 hours ago, Tnwakeboarder86 said:

 Also what's the red light under the safety lanyard?  It is lit up? Does this mean fuse out? Or safety bad?

Red light is probably your V drive oil pressure warning light.  It is supposed to be on when in neutral or moving in idle, but should go off at 1000 rpm or so when in gear.

As @drh said, pull the plugs to make sure your engine is not hydro locked.  Only bad things will happen if you keep trying to overpower the situation with the starter.

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2 hours ago, 95echelon said:

This happened to me with the monsoon 340. It can happen when you stop slowly and a flapper malfunctions etc. I am now in the camp of if it hard starts pull the plug every time. Damper plate would be another (less likely) culprit.

So you guys are saying remove the spark plugs and just put them right back in?

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4 minutes ago, Tnwakeboarder86 said:

So you guys are saying remove the spark plugs and just put them right back in?

Remove them and then try cranking it to see if any of the cylinders are full of water 

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4 minutes ago, jbower said:

Remove them and then try cranking it to see if any of the cylinders are full of water 

ok will do, I am no mechanic by any means.  I didn't even know we could pull spark plugs out and crank it.  I thought they had to be in to even turn it.

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Pull your lanyard off or disconnect the distributor plugs just in case a cylinder is full of fuel or you have fuel vapors. Don't want the sparks from the 8 plug wires igniting anything

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formulaben
2 hours ago, Tnwakeboarder86 said:

ok will do, I am no mechanic by any means.  I didn't even know we could pull spark plugs out and crank it.  I thought they had to be in to even turn it.

Make sure you don't mix up the spark plug wires...good idea to label them before you do this.  Your problem will go from bad to worse if you mix them up!

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Boat ran.

Starter sounded weird.

Replaced starter / Replaced batteries.

Now boat doesn't start.

 

Where in the world are you guys getting hydrolock?

I mean it's possible but I'd sure focus on bad parts/install foulup.  Just my experience with my own shade-tree mechanic'n.  half my satisfying "aha!" moments are solving the problem I created in the first place.

I think I'd try the old whack the starter with the wrench trick based on the facts as we know them.

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just making suggestions on what to check. Since he said that it made noises when starting then someone said the starter and after replacing it he says it just clicks. The first thing I personally would do is make sure the engine isn't locked up. Guess I'll keep my keyboard to myself for now on

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Start with the last thing changed... The new starter.

In my limited experience, the three probable culprits are:

1. Bad ground or loose wire.  Check the wire connections on the back of the starter first.  Second is to check the battery terminals to make sure they are tight with no corrosion.  Third is to check the ground strap on the engine block.  One of these three connection points is most likely the problem.  My dad always says to me.  When it comes to a boat, check the ground first!!!

2.  Internal wire in the new (probably off-brand re-manufactured) starter broke.  This happens to a surprisingly high number of replacement starters.  For this to be the culprit you should be able to hear the starter Bendix gear engage (a metal click just a small bit quieter than normal talking) and absolutely nothing after that.

3. Low battery voltage.  Your battery should be over 11.5 volts to work correctly.

After that it goes into the safety switches.  In diagnosing a problem I always start with the last item to be touched.

Unless you took the air intake cover off and washed the engine, IT IS NOT WATER IN THE CYLINDERS.

I hope this helps!

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9 hours ago, BLSousa said:

Start with the last thing changed... The new starter.

In my limited experience, the three probable culprits are:

1. Bad ground or loose wire.  Check the wire connections on the back of the starter first.  Second is to check the battery terminals to make sure they are tight with no corrosion.  Third is to check the ground strap on the engine block.  One of these three connection points is most likely the problem.  My dad always says to me.  When it comes to a boat, check the ground first!!!

2.  Internal wire in the new (probably off-brand re-manufactured) starter broke.  This happens to a surprisingly high number of replacement starters.  For this to be the culprit you should be able to hear the starter Bendix gear engage (a metal click just a small bit quieter than normal talking) and absolutely nothing after that.

3. Low battery voltage.  Your battery should be over 11.5 volts to work correctly.

 

This is good advice. I was even thinking he may want to jumper the back of the starter solenoid to rule out the starter as an issue but sparks always concern me with this method. Also, the OP said he replaced the batteries so those shouldn't be the issue. Like @shawndoggy said make sure you didn't create a new problem when trying to fix the original...been there too many times before.

9 hours ago, BLSousa said:

Unless you took the air intake cover off and washed the engine, IT IS NOT WATER IN THE CYLINDERS.

This is not true. The thought behind my original suggestion was to first eliminate the worst case scenario of improper winterizing causing a cracked block, head, or exhaust manifold which let water leak into the cylinders.

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I'd 2nd the suggestion that your new starter may be bad (Especially if you went cheap and got a non-marine grade starter). Next is to get out your volt-meter and start measuring voltage/resistance at the starter. YouTube can show you how.

This will also help rule out a seized/locked engine as you would see a HUGE voltage drop if the starter was trying to turn a stuck engine.

Is it in neutral?

good luck.

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thanks everyone.  I decided from reading everything I could easily be making the mistake so I decided to take this to a mechanic and let a pro deal with it that way I don't have this shut down on the lake again.  First boat, mine as well do it right the first time until I learn. right?

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It would be easy to pull all spark plugs and while they are out, turn the key and see if the engine will spin. At least that eliminates hydrolock and puts focus right on the starter circuit.  The battery may have juce to run the stereo but not to crank the engine under compression. With all plugs out, the engine may even spin slowly indicating low battery juice. Hope the mechanic finds a simple issue. 

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