HELP PLEASE

[KEVIN WERHAN]

HOPE EVERYONE HAD A GREAT FATHERS DAY AND A GREAT WEEKEND. I WENT OUT FISHING SUNDAY,

PUT IN, AND WENT RIGHT ON THE TROLLING MOTOR. ABOUT NOON, I WENT TO MOVE TO A DIFFERENT

SPOT ONLY TO FIND MY MOTOR WOULD NOT TURN OVER. THE TILT TRIM WORKED, THE FUEL GAUGE

WORKED WHEN I TURNED THE KEY ON, THE CHOKE CLICKED WHEN I PUSHED IN ON THE KEY, BUT NO

CLICK OR NOTHING FROM THE STARTER. I DISCONNECTED AND INSPECTED THE IGNITION CONNECTORS

UNDER THE DASH, NO CORROSSION. STARTER CONNECTIONS WERE TIGHT. I DID NOT HAVE A VOLT

METER OR TEST LIGHT TO CHECK FOR POWER. AFTER PLAYING AROUND AND FISHING A WHILE I

FINALLY GOT THE MOTOR TO START WHEN I TRIMMED THE MOTOR UP SO THE PROP WAS OUT OF THE

WATER, SO I WIGGLED THE WIRES THINKING IT MAY BE A BROKEN WIRE, NO LUCK. LATER ON IN

THE DAY, IT DID THE SAME THING. THIS TIME EVEN WHEN I TRIMMED THE MOTOR UP IT WOULD NOT

CRANK. AFTER FISHING SOME MORE, I WENT TO TRY TO START IT, MOTOR TRIMMED DOWN, IT CRANKED

AND STARTED.



THIS IS AN 06 PRO GUIDE 16' 50HP MERC 2 STRK. I HAVE HEARD THAT TRACKER USES THEIR OWN

STARTER HARNESSES FROM THE IGNITION SW., AND THESE FAIL. I CANNOT SEE ANY PROBLEMS WITH

THE WIRING. HAS ANYONE HAD THIS SIMILAR TYPE OF PROBLEM AND WHAT FIXED YOUR BOAT.



ANY HELP WILL BE GREATLY APPRECIATED.



THANKS

KEVIN.

 

[Aroldo Hernandez]

What's with the cap's on?

 

[KEVIN WERHAN]

It's easier to read??? What no information ace4u?

 

[Greg Meyer]

Intermittent electrical problems are amoing the most difficult to diagnose. Your's sounds like a primo case. Works... doesn't work... wiggle/move a wire and it works... stand on your head... trim it up... eat a donut... etc. All work sometimes and then not. However, whenever I encounter an intermittent starter problem I look first to see if I have a good reliable ground from the starter. I use a regular Marine jumper cable to supplement the ground wiring to see if the peoblem is eliminated. Start there.



Second source of starter problems are low battery voltage...obvious but a good thing to check and easy.



Next issue is the wiring harness itself. That I would leave to the dealer/mechanic. As an aside... what is the warranty status?



Good luck.

 

[KEVIN WERHAN]

Five years on the motor, as of last feb.. Wiring, I think is only covered under the

one year boat warr., somebody correct me if I'm wrong. As far as the charge status of

the battery, I had it on the trickle charger for 5 days before Sunday. I will check the

battery state of charge tonight, but I am 99.9% certain it is a wiring issue.



Thanks for the input Greg.

 

[Mark Jaworski]

Had the same problem on my NITRO. But it was worse, Id be going 50 and the engine would die. It turned out to be one of the connectors under the dash. I troubleshot it myself. Tracker could not find it.



Mark

 

[Aroldo Hernandez]

Well KW, my friend had the same problem according to my local dealer the starter was going bad. They re-placed it and he hasn't had any more problems. they showed him the old starter. So it was re-placed. He had power every where exept to get the motor to crank at times. check ur starter KW.

" caps on means that ur screaming at us", wheather you ment it or not.

 

[mike chip]

i had a similar issue with my tracker, it was the wiring harness, threacker does use there own harness, mine on my 1996 pt 175 with 60hp was 6 different pieces. And was very expensive to replace, so i checked with my local merc dealer and for 70 bucks i gotr a sealed factory unit, never had another problem.

mike c

 

[Steve Rizza]

I had the same problem.

After wracking my brain trying to find the problem, I found the harness at the motor was coming unplugged. Open the cowling, and there should be a big plug right where all of the wires go into the cowling. Check to make sure it is tight and clamped in place.

Every time I would trim my motor up it would unplug it enough that it wouldn't start. Then trimmed down it would eventually make contact and start again.



Steve

 

[KEVIN WERHAN]

Thanks for all the input, I'm gonna try and track down the culprit.



kevin

 

[JP Heintzman]

KW, I have a 1995 170TF w/ a 75 hp merc. Had the exact same problem, fought it for 1/2 a year, ruled out the battery, starter, ign switch, etc at least three times each. Unplugged and plugged in all the connections..... Had the harness from the ign switch all the way back replaced and never looked back, good luck.



JP