[Fritz]

Hey,

I’m getting desperate... and frustrated.

My 2015 Suzuki DF200A (that’s the four cylinder, four stroke) won’t start. I get the solenoid clicking, but the starter will not engage. I pulled and tested the starter and solenoid and was able to get both to test good with a battery, then I went and bought a used one off eBay and that starter acts just like my original.

Both relays (main and starter) test fine, but I replaced them as well with no good effect. All fuses appear intact.

I went through the electrical system and found several really dirty terminals and cleaned them. I’ve got 13V at the starter, a drop of about .2v (I have my battery charger plugged in and charging the boats batteries) from the batteries. When I engage the starter the voltage drops to about 10V and the starter will not engage, just the clicks of the solenoid.

What should I look for next?

Something in the start switch maybe?

Thanks for any ideas!

 

[DuckNut]

Try running a jumper wire to your truck battery. Disconnect from your battery and hook to the truck. Or a different battery you know is good.

Seems to be a big drop. Might have a shorted battery.

Not sure of voltage needed to engage

 

[Fritz]

It was an electrical delivery problem. I had a partially failed battery selector switch that exposed what might have been a long running short on the house side of my electrical system.

For ten years I have been running my boat thinking the batteries were opposite, that is the wire for the input 1 side of the selector switch enter and attaches on the 2 side of the switch. I have been running my bait pumps on my cranking batteries while at anchor. This was a humbling learning experience.

Pulled all the wires and replaced No. 1 crimped with 1/0 soldered and then shrink wrapped, will try to pay more attention to details in the future.