Islandia '01 240 Merc Starting issues

[speedluver]

Hello all, sorry for this long post, but I think the history here might shed insight into the problem...

I purchased an 01 Islandia in May. The first few times I took it out, it would start immediately and idle at 1K RPM.

After a few weeks, on cold starts, it would fire right away and start but had trouble getting up to 1K RPM for a few minutes. I would turn the wheel for a boost or put it in gear and rev it a little to encourage it and could always get it going.

After a few weeks of that, I started getting a new wrinkle in the process. Occasionally, when turning the ignition for initial startup, it would crank for half a second and then just stop. It made no weird noises, just the starter stopped turning like power being cut to it. I would try immediately again and it would fire up and either run low RPM's or run just fine. Again, in this scenario I could reliably start the boat.

Then, a couple weeks ago I went to cold start the boat and instead of one of these behaviors, the boat just cranked with no fire, for about 5 seconds and then started and ran fine. I didn't think much of it and headed to the beach. When leaving the beach a few hours later, my battery alarm sounded when I turned the blower on (which is usual for me when leaving the beach after running radio and fountain) and I tried to start it. It just cranked and cranked with no firing at all. I would let it crank for 10 seconds or so, then give it a break, and repeat to no avail.

My friend came up on his boat and we raised the engine cover to look at it. The starter pinion looked like it was stuck up on the flywheel in the starting position. It would not come down when the key was released. At this point a storm was starting to roll in, so my buddy towed me back to my dock.

I went out the next day and checked all obvious wires, connectors, and such, and could not get the boat to fire. Just continuous cranking. I hooked up a battery charger with a 50 amp start boost and tried it again in case there was something funky with the battery. Still just cranking and no firing. After I unhooked the battery charger, I tried a few more times and finally it did the previous behavior of cranking for half a second and then stopping. I tried immediately again and it fired right up.

I let it run for 10 minutes or so and went back and looked at the starter and sure enough, the pinion had dropped back where it was supposed to be. I shut the boat off and started it about ten more times with no problem. Then I tried it again and it started the cranking with no firing behavior. Looking at the starter, with the key back to off, the pinon was again up on the flywheel. I turned the key to start and back to off about five times quickly and it started right up again.

So, does it sound like something in the starter is going bad causing the pinon to stay up in the flywheel and causing the engine not to fire even though it sounds like it is cranking just fine? Is the flywheel not being spun fast enough or some safety feature blocking ignition even though it doesn't fire AT ALL when the pinion is sticking? It seems like it should at least try to fire if the starter is spinning. Everyone I have asked about it says it can't be the starter because the flywheel seems to be spinning just fine (granted none of them have much experience without outboard motors or SeaDoo boats), but I can look at the starter when it is not starting and see that pinion up where it shouldn't be and it sure seems like a starter issue to me.

Here are 2 pictures of what the starter looks like when the pinion is stuck up on the flywheel. If I turn the key while it looks like this, it just cranks and will not fire. The next picture is what it looks like when it starts with no problem. Does that spring look right?



Thanks for reading!

 

[henryb]

Although I have the Merc 210HP engine in my 2000 Challenger 1800. It is the one with carberators, so this may not apply to yours at all... however, I have all of the exact same "starting quirks" that you have mentioned.

That being said, my mechanic showed me a nifty trick to get it to start when it just cranks and does not fire up. More then likely in these situations, the engine is flooded, so he suggested to utilize the steering throttle mechanism and while the engine is cranking... you turn the steering wheel all the way one direction and activate the steering throttle... in my case, this opens the throats on the carberators and gives it some extra air to breathe and it always seems to get me going!

I'm sure Dr Honda will jump in with a much more detailed analysis of the symptoms that you are experiencing, I am most interested to hear what he has to say.

 

[Dr Honda]

This is a strange one.... but the starter should drop back down regardless. Make sure the shaft is clean, and lubed. AND... that the spring is still in good shape. (on the shaft, above the pinion) Right now.. the only thing kicking it down is the engine starting.



As far as the starting issue... that's rough. Normally, I'd say you don't' have enough clean air down in the bilge. But in your case I think it's more than that.


Issues:

1) Low voltage: On some of the Merc ECU's... they are VERY sensitive to low voltage. I would first check the battery voltage while cranking. If it's dropping to 10.5v or lower... that could be the prob. The engine may still spin... but the computer isn't coming to life.

(I feel that may be the main issue)

2) Could be low fuel pressure (Check fuel pressure at the regulator)

3) Could be a bad switch/ignition box. If the voltage at the battery is good... check the ignition for spark.

 

[speedluver]

Thanks for the replies! I will try the suggestions listed this weekend.

Dr. Honda, so you don't think the starter should have anything to do with the starting problem itself, but I just notice it sticking because it isn't starting and so the engine doesn't kick it down for whatever reason (needs cleaned, lubed, repaired)?

The weird thing is that when it is stuck like that, it seems that turning the key from off to start really fast 5 times or so seems to release it down, and then it will crank, fire, and start immediately. Once started and up to 1K RPM it runs fine.

There isn't any kind of safety feature in the starter that would prevent ignition if the pinion isn't coming back down or something is there? Or is it being stuck up there causing the engine to not turn quite fast enough to fire?

Thanks again, guys!

 

[Dr Honda]

Nope.... nothing with the starter to ignition on that engine. So, if it sticks... the engine will start, and over rev the starter... making it self destruct. LOL. But... realistically... between the design of the shaft, and the actual Bendex clutch at the base... it almost never happens.

I think the starter just needs a cleaning/check-up.

But... now that you are saying cycling the key fast sometimes gets it going... you could simply have a bad key switch, or lanyard switch. I would try to disconnect the "Kill" wire going back to the engine. On that engine (as I recall) it's black, with a white trace. Just disconnect it at the ignition, on the engine. On the carb engine... it could be dangerous... but since you have the EFI... you can still shut down the computer by turning the key off.