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Starter or something else

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Clivingston

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got everything else hooked up on my 99 challenger 1800. got to try and crank and it seems like the battery is week so i put on a charger and charge the battery. battery full and still struggles to crank. will turn over a few times then stop. i pulled the plugs and it will turn over fine. is this a starter problem or something else i can check. one of the starters looks orginal and the other is a sbt starter. ive checked all my wires and battery terminals are clean and secure. any help would be awesome!
 
If your battery does not have a bad cell, then I would guess starter based you on stating the wires and connections are good. Do you have twins or a spare starter?

And if it is a spare, which is installed?
 
I have twin 787s brand new both. The starters came with the boat so I don't know if they even worked prior. They will turn over without the spark plugs in. Both motors are doing the exact same thing. Both motors will turn over with out spark plugs in.
 
You need to check voltage drops at every point in the circuit down to the starter. Start at the battery + post crank the engine and make note of the voltage and move down the line to the supply side of the solenoid, demand side of the solenoid and then on to the starter itself.
 
i have one battery for each motor. i took my truck battery and hooked it up and it still did the same thing. should i see the 12 volts all the way to the starter?
 
i took the voltage on the secondary side of the solenoid and had the negative on the battery and did not see any voltage when it wasnt turning over
 
Yes,, if it drops below 11.8 volts ish then you have an issue. Since the issue is on both engines, look for a common link. Such as a grounding bar for example. I would take a GOOD QUALITY pair of jumper cables and run the ground from the battery to the engine block and the hot from the battery to the hot terminal of the starter. See if it improves. If so,,, you have an issue in the wires or connections.

If you jump the solenoid, does it crank the same or better?
 
I will try that first thing tomorrow. I wish I knew how much money this forum has saved ppl like me. Thanks guys will update tomorrow.
 
I did have a spare black wire but I've looked and have no clue Where it goes. I have the two from the starter to their battery and the one that joins the two motors. Any idea where this spare might go?
 
Can you post any pics?

Is the extra wire a heavy wire?


Power should come from the battery to the isolater switch(2 of them), from the switch to both electrical boxes. A ground should go from the battery to the ear on the starter on both engines, then the short one daisy chains to the mag housings on both engines.


If you follow closely you can trace the wires back kinda. And if you look at the hump between where the engines sit you will see the short ground wire that joins the 2 engines. One end is under the water box.

I know you say the battery is fully charged, but you need to have it load tested. I had a similar issue a few years ago on my Speedster, I could start one engine but the other was a no go. It was charged but had a bad cell(like Coastie said) and the engine closest to the battery would start but the battery took such a hit on the run to the other engine that it just couldn't turn it over.



 
Racer I'm going to buy two new batteries bc I don't know how old these others are and eliminate that right off. I have all those wires in place and the extra is like the one that runs from the starter to the neg post. But I have both of those in place and they are the heavy gauge. Gonna get new battery and have a meter party on it. Gonna jump a few things too and try that also. This forum has the best ppl that are delicated to helping... Thank you guys!!
 
So I got two new batteries and that fixed that problem. Stb motor spun and fired right up. Port clicks and tries to turn over but seems to get hung up. Starter might be bad. Rain is messing me up and having a hard time trouble shooting.
 
Could be the solenoid. You could swap them to check. That's the nice thing about a twin, you have good parts to test with, lol.

Sent from my SGH-T889 using Tapatalk
 
I would swap the starters. This will tell you where you need to go. Is it a bit of work? Yes, but it takes all guess work out of the equation...
 
Coastiejoe said:
I would swap the starters. This will tell you where you need to go. Is it a bit of work? Yes, but it takes all guess work out of the equation...
Click to expand...

I second this idea. It is better to be sure it's the starter instead of shelling out a whole lot of money for no reason. I had a simar issue with my xp, it would crank real slow barely spinning the motor over swapped it out with an SBT and it cranks just fine now.
 
If you do need a starter, I STRONGLY recommend ONLY going with an OEM starter. Even if you buy a junk used one and rebuild it, it is MUCH better than buying an aftermarket one. They simply do not hold up. I would think [MENTION=41828]Minnetonka4me[/MENTION] has a starter if you need one.
 
Looking at starter stuff on eBay I see one that is 50 bucks with no apparent brand on it. This is what I need to stay away from right? The starter that's is suspected to be bad is a SBT starter. Rebuilding it would be fine if that is my problem right? Gonna do some t/s today if the weather holds up. Gonna take some readings and swap contactor first as this is easier and eliminate that as an issue. Then swap starters as much as I hate to but don't feel like wasting money. How do I know an OEM starter?
 
NOTHING,,, but an OEM as far as I am concerned. SBT is better than most aftermarket, but still no where as good as an OEM starter.

Like I said, you are MUCH better off to buy a used one and install new brushes in it as compared to buying an aftermarket.
 
Message received. Gonna se if he has one and how much. Apparently my honey due list was due so didnt get to do any testing so will get to that tomorrow. Gonna get with him about the oem starter thank guys
 
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