Frozen starter maybe

[basscat]

A friedn of mine has a fish/ski boat (mostly fish) that's got a I/O, fresh water cooled motor and does run it in salt water often. It's been almost 3 years since he's fired up the boat. Oil is black (due for a change), so it's not milky or have any water drops on the dipstick.

He goes to crank it......clunk...clunk....he suspects it's the starter. The battery was taken off his other car as a temporary one and even hooked up the jumper cables to his truck for extra measures. So we have power. Can't be fuel yet as it has not yet even cranked over.

He plans to remove the starter and get it tested this weekend and assumes it's the bearings have gone bad or frozen with rust.

Questions are as follows:

1). Can something be squirted into the bearings to unfreeze them?

2). Assume the starter's going to be replaced anyways....is it better to take it to a shop that can rebuild the marine starter or get a remanfactured one, he's not sure if either way, it would be covered by the same year(s) warranty.

The motor is a older Chevy 350 marine short block. He's located in San Diego so if anyone knows of a shop down there, that'd be great. If not, I could always swing by his place and drop off locally in the LA area.

[Sparky70]

Tell him to go to Kragens or some auto parts store and by a remanufactured starter, it's cheaper than getting his rewound.

[Thisfool]

is it a clunk or a click a stuck starter sounds like a click. also try turning the motor by hand to make sure it isnt the motor frozen up. another quick trick just to get it started is tap on the starter with a hammer while turning the key.

[cutbait]

is it a clunk or a click a stuck starter sounds like a click. also try turning the motor by hand to make sure it isnt the motor frozen up. another quick trick just to get it started is tap on the starter with a hammer while turning the key.

Agreed..

Clunk is froze engine or bearings in sterndrive.

Clickyity click click is starter


If it was my boat, I wouldn't spend a dime on a starter till I very carefully used a pipe wrench on the crankshaft {use blocks of wood to keep from scaring the pulley}

Crank should turn easily, you could do it one handed. If it spins easily, put it in gear and check sterndrive.

Make sure you take the hot wire off on the distributer first :Smile:

[karlow]

The std. cause of death ton I/O is poor maintenance.
The manifolds have an about 7-10 yr life expectancy.
The elbows have shorter life span, they are maintenance items.
People typically do not address this. Once they start to fail, they will leak raw water into the exhaust on the engine.
If you don't notice and park the boat, it's done after about a week.

Check to see if the engine is frozen. Pull the plugs and check for rust.
It there is no rust, maybe it's the outdrive.

Kp