Riddle me this Batman

[twinpartners]

Needed to be towed last night because my 2004 Sportster 4-Tec would not start. When I hit the start button it would just click-click-click. First thought was 1. Battery, 2. Wiring issue, 3. Solenoid, 4. Starter. It was night and we had been in shallow water fishing. I'd stop and we'd listen to some radio and had the fish finder and boat lights on. Every hour or so I'd hit the start switch so I wouldn't drain the battery. Was pretty sure that wasn't it. After the tow, went home and left the battery charger on all night.

This morning, it still wouldn't crank...just tap-tap-tap.

After checking the wiring and by-passing the solenoid, all I got was still a tap-tap-tap. So, it was a bad starter...right?

Hold on...decided to go ahead and pull all the plugs. Turned it over and the starter moved the crank just fine. NOW I was getting worried, but thought it could still be the starter because it wasn't under any load (piston compression)...right?

Hold on...went ahead and did a compression check while I was at it: perfect compression on all cylinders. So, I put all spark plugs back. Hit the start button and it FIRED RIGHT UP!! Did it twice...three times...no problems at all anymore.

Is there such a thing as "Vapor Lock"? It seems when I relieved the pressure on the cylinders by removing the spark plugs, my starter now has no problem firing the engine up. Any ideas???

 

[mkov608]

Yes. You may have carbon build up on the starter solenoid contacts. I've had that happen to me before. When you pulled the plugs, the starter didn't have the compression load, so there was less current draw across the contacts. Once you put the plugs back in, the solenoid contacts were in a different (however slight) position.

My suggestion is to (1) pull the battery and make sure the CCA are withing spec, and (2) pull the starter and disassemble the solenoid. Look for arcing on the contacts. If the contacts have a lot of carbon deposits, use a Dremel tool to clean them up.

Next time you go fishing, make sure to pack a battery booster.

K

 

[chucked]

Yea, sounds like a solenoid

 

[ski-d00]

the solenoid can act intermittently when they fail, they will still click but won't put voltage through. it will happen again if you don't change it but if you keep pressing the start button, eventually it will start, some take 10 or more pushes, some take 5.

 

[pwgsx]

Sounds like a going dead battery with no cca's. Get it load tested and see where it stands. If its 100% good, look at replacing the starter. If I were you I would add a second battery to run your toys and keep the starter battery just for starting

 

[twinpartners]

Sea-Tow used a booster the night we were "saved" and it did not get the starter to turn the flywheel either. After we were towed in and I got it home, as mentioned, I charged the battery all night. It did not turn over. Even a second battery would have done no good. As mentioned, once I removed the spark plugs, the starter was able to spin the flywheel/crankshaft just fine. Since then the starter has started the boat without a single problem. Took off the starter and had it bench checked at Autozone and Advanced Auto Parts and it checked out just fine. Put it back in and took it out last night to do some more night fishing and haven't had the problem again. I am now keeping a spark-plug puller with me if it happens again. If the starter were actually bad, it wouldn't just decide to work all of a sudden. I still think that one of the cylinders had to be right at, or near, TDC. Once I relieved the pressure it was fine. If I had given too many cranking amps and forced the starter to engage I think I would have had more problems (broke a tooth on the starter or flywheel). Would be nice to hear if this has ever happened to anyone.

 

[twinpartners]

the solenoid can act intermittently when they fail, they will still click but won't put voltage through. it will happen again if you don't change it but if you keep pressing the start button, eventually it will start, some take 10 or more pushes, some take 5.

We must have pushed that button a hundred times before and after waiting for Sea Tow to pluck us out of the water. The only thing that fixed it was by removing the 3 spark plugs and turning the engine over.