bendix stuck

roffey

roffey

Junior Member
seems like this boat is always broken... The last time I was out the battery went dead,, just before the winch cable broke,, LOL. Try and load a 26 foot boat with no motor and no winch cable... That's a different thread.... Very hot day and when I got the boat home and battery charged the boat would not start,,, just crank. After about 30 min of cranking the motor started to show signs of life and then the starter would just click.. so I think the bendix is stuck on the fly wheel. I know what a dead battery sounds like, click click click and I know what broken teeth on a fly wheel sound like.... this is just one click every time I turn the key..

My question is can I just hit the starter with a hammer and see if I can unstick the bendix it or is this a done deal, take the old starter off for when I but my new starter?
 
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go ahead and hit it, can't hurt. is the battery charged after all that cranking?? ck the cables sometimes they get hot with all that cranking, might have melted on the end, might need to be tightened up or something??
 
This sounds like an inboard/outboard.
If it was an outboard, I'd rotate the flywheel to detach the teeth of the starter from the flywheel. Can't do that with an innie/outie.
I'd whack it!!
The aggravation to remove the starter (if an I/O) is worth replacing it.
 
I was watching the battery when cranking was looking for smoke. I have a smart charger and it will test the battery and tell me when it if full or broken and needs to be replaced, got ta love technology... ok will go a head and give it a love tap and see what happens. and it's an I/O
 
never never never hit a starter with a hammer or anything else except in an emergency to get home... VERY often the "love tap" will break or dislodge the magnets making the starter junk


Most likely this isn't the starter anyhow.... the bendix isn't stuck and if it was the starter would still crank the engine

Most likely your slave solenoid (not on the starter) has given up the ghost... feel free to give IT a little tap
 
I think his starter is the old style(non permanent magnet), while it isn't that good for them, not much you can do to hurt the old ones once they start giving problems. The new style gear reduction starters should never be hit with anything, don't drop them either. They have permanent magnets inside that are very fragile. BTW, both starters will interchange using the correct bolts
 
so... I did give it a tap, not a whap just a few taps with the hammer and it did not fix the problem. The starter is now clicking as if the battery was low and I know my battery is good a with a full charge. I jumped from my truck and still no change..so you guys think it might be the solenoid... and I believe that is on the starter so I will have to take the starter off and replace or test it.
 
my "old style" GM starters all the way back into the early 70's all had permanent magnets... don't beat on it.... you can add busted starter to whatever other problem you may have

there are TWO solenoids... one on the starter and one remote mounted
USUALLY it is the remote one that causes issues.... you COULD also have corroded connections

You can trouble shoot this with a volt meter and a helper to turn the key

hook the positive to the battery positive and use the negative to trace the path of electricity .... at each test point the voltage should drop from near 12v to near 0v when the key is turned to start.

You want to test the large power connection on the starter solenoid mounted on the starter, and the "s" terminal on the same solenoid.
If both of those pass then the problem is within the starter and or it's mounted solenoid
If the large terminal fails you have either a bad battery or bad connection(s) in the battery cables (check both pos and ground)
If the "s" terminal fails move the test to the slave solenoid and repeat. Next test will be the ign switch
 
I'll give it a try, keep in mind I am a computer nerd. I'll keep you posted. Funny the way it works out. I was going to go out on the water today but the starter foiled that plan. We had the worst thunder storm and a tornado watch, I would have been out on the water most likely miles from the dock... and docking a big boat in the wind is not fun...
 
sorry, i meant ceramic magnets. The later starters will not tolerate any banging. By the time you get around to hitting a starter with a hammer, the damage has probably already been done, its a last ditch effort to get it to spin to get you back home. If you had to go that far to get it to work, you need to replace it. I've beat on some older starters pretty hard to avoid having to be towed in, I replaced the starter before going back out.

Check voltage to the starter, check grounds from the battery to the block. Load test your battery if you have a tester(check your connections at the battery cable ends as well). With the key in the start position, check for voltage to teh yellow/red wire on the slave solenoid(either on top of the throttle linkage bracket or at the front of the exhaust manifold), check for voltage out of the larger yellow/red wire coming out of the slave solenoid. Check for voltage to the S terminal on the starter, check for voltage coming out of the bottom terminal on the solenoid on the starter itself. At this point, you should have it figured out. If you replace the starter, make sure the mounting surfaces are clean and unpainted before mounting, always buy new starter bolts when replacing the starter(use the reduced head type sold by Arco or Mercruiser, you'll thank me later)
 
yep we agree.... if you are stranded and know the starter is bad... sure, give it a whack....might save ya a LONG swim.... if you are at home and don't know what the problem is don't.... could go from a bad ground to a bad ground AND a busted starter
 
.. as I mentioned earlier I am a computer guy. I know enough about motors to get me in trouble. I have a mechanic friend who I help with his computer stuff. I am going to trailer the boat down to his place and we will fix. Just as a FYI, when I said hit the starter I was more meaning tap it to see if the bendix went back in, I think the solenoid is the problem so I did nothing other than get dirty. I did not know the starter motors were such fragile things, you have educated me.
 
OK, it's in the hands of a professional now, LOL. He looked at the boat and was not able to fix it in ten min. so I feel much better. There are time when I have looked at a computer and all I needed to do was turn the power switch to on, I kid you not. My Buddy thinks the problem is power and not starter, ie battery.

I'll keep you posted. My daughter's birthday is next Friday and I was counting on doing the boating thing....
 
My money is on the starter windings. You said you were cranking her for a long time. You just might have burnt them out. If it were the solonoid you wouldn't get the click of it engaging... (shooting the gear forward to engage the flywheel). But since you say you are getting that sound but the engine is not turning over it tells me that the starter motor is either not getting juice (burned contacts in the solonoid) or that the starter motor is burned out. IMHO

And if you want to turn the engine over you can always put a socket on the crankshaft damper pulley and give a tug with a breaker bar.
 
OK,, so here it is.. ready for this....​

The motor is pooched. The people who had the boat before me over heated the motor, remember I had to replace the impeller. The starter worked fine. I am unable to turn the fly wheel even with 4 foot bar... I think it's time to cut my losses and sell. I paid $3,500 for the boat and trailer. The trailer is a tri axel with surge breaks.​
 
this seems strange, I shut the motor off... I thought the battery was dead. Charged it, and then the motor cranked but did not start... The guy I took it to is a friend and can fix anything that has a motor and can rival you guys here so I believe him...​
 
we did that... any other suggestion will be gratefully accepted... as I said, I am looking at selling and buying and newer and smaller boat... don't worry you guys would still get to listen to me complain and cry, it would just be a different boat. v1​
 
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