1999 Sea Doo GTX RFI - Starter/starter solenoid issue?

[LIBoater]

My 1999 Sea Doo GTX RFI has suddenly stopped starting... was running fine all weekend and now won't turn over. Battery fully charged. I took a video, but can't upload. The solenoid (white arrow in photo) clicks and buzzes when I press start, but nothing else. Any thoughts here? Bad starter? Bad solenoid? Bad relay?... would be good to know where to start my detective work?... and, if there's a relay, where might it be? Thanks in advance!

 

[etemplet]

Check and make sure the engine is turns freely. Put an old screwdriver across the solenoid terminals and see if the engine spins. I use channel locks. There is a thread on the forum about replacing the starter if you find your starter is the culprit. I'm doing a RFI starter at the moment and have been putting the re-install off for a couple of days. Amazing, the reasons you can come up with for not doing something. Good Luck.

 

[LIBoater]

Check and make sure the engine is turns freely. Put an old screwdriver across the solenoid terminals and see if the engine spins. I use channel locks. There is a thread on the forum about replacing the starter if you find your starter is the culprit. I'm doing a RFI starter at the moment and have been putting the re-install off for a couple of days. Amazing, the reasons you can come up with for not doing something. Good Luck.

Yup… did some googling after posting this and my suspicion (hope) is it’s a bad solenoid… ordered one off Amazon for <$20 so worth a shot… might pop down to the boat tonight and try the “channel locks test” just to be sure… I’ve read the horror stories of starter replacement so truly hoping that’s not the case - now I think about it the starting has become progressively “iffy” which, per Google, seems to point to solenoid gradually going bad… watch this space, I will report back for those who follow

 

[etemplet]

Use Old Channel Locks. Replacing the starter isn't a really bad job. I'm just short.

 

[LIBoater]

OK I’m on the boat… good news and bad news: good news is I’m a step closer to resolution… brand new solenoid and still no joy, so assume it must be the starter… tried the channel locks trick and all I got was sparks!… will find a starter online (any suggestions?) and tackle that next… unless there’s any other trouble-shooting I should consider?

 

[mikidymac]

If you have and OEM starter just try replacing the brushes first with one of the $20 brush kits.

The aftermarket starters are junk.

 

[LIBoater]

It's even worse than I thought... I'll cut to the chase, it was a bad ground... either that or the switch is bad on the handlebars... how do I know this? Because I went to the trouble of removing the starter (and all that goes with that lovely job) only to find that she works fine when jumped straight from the battery... sooooooooooooo, I put it all back together and, Voila! it works good as new... at least I know how to do it now!!!... I now have to find a new replacement start/stop switch, but it's good to have it all working again, despite all the frustration and wasted work... worth checking your grounds, for sure!!!