Bad Starter???

[jenglin]

I have a 1988 TriStar w/ a Ford 351W and I went to start it tonight and the starter would not stop even after I turned the key off. The only way I could get it to stop was disconnect the battery. I went as far as to disconnect the key switch and put the postive back on the battery and the motor turned over. One time the motor started and the starter still kept turning. I disconnected the ignition b/c I thought it was stuck in the "start" position. Is the starter or the celinoid bad? I just replaced the starter relay earlier this year. Any feedback would be appreciated. Thanks!

[trickskier]

Sounds more like a bad solenoid.

[Jeff d]

Unhook the ignition lead (The small gauge wire) to the solenoid then touch the cables back to the battery. If the starter turns over then you can be sure it's the solenoid. If it doesn't then reconnect the battery and go touch the ignition wire to the starter. If the starter turns over then you know it's something in the ignition switch or the ignition wiring.

If it doesn't spin with either of the above scenarios then it may have temporarily resolved itself and require further troubleshooting but the most likely culprit is probably the solenoid as trickskier already suggested.

[Jeff d]

BTW if you end up needing a starter or solenoid I bought a Chinese starter from these guys and it's been good so far (2 months, 4 outings):
http://sap175.channeladvisor.com/

It was like $65 shipped. They don't have listings for Indmar though so you have to do a little cross referencing to figure out what you need. Couldn't beat their prices anywhere though and it came in 2 days with ground shipping. I had to call them too and they were helpful and confirmed that my cross referencing work was correct before I ordered.

[Jim@BAWS]

Originally Posted by Jeff d

BTW if you end up needing a starter or solenoid I bought a Chinese starter from these guys and it's been good so far (2 months, 4 outings):
http://sap175.channeladvisor.com/

It was like $65 shipped. They don't have listings for Indmar though so you have to do a little cross referencing to figure out what you need. Couldn't beat their prices anywhere though and it came in 2 days with ground shipping. I had to call them too and they were helpful and confirmed that my cross referencing work was correct before I ordered.

At $65 bucks I promise you it IS NOT a Marine Quality Application Starter

Jim@BAWS

[Jeff d]

Originally Posted by Jim@BAWS

At $65 bucks I promise you it IS NOT a Marine Quality Application Starter

Jim@BAWS

But it had a sticker on it that said it was! If we can't trust in a sticker placed on a starter by some unknown Chinese sweat shop manufacturer then who can we trust? Ha!


How can you tell by looking at the outside whether or not it's "Marine Quality"?

Here's the specific starter that i bought:
http://sap175.channeladvisor.com/p-2...0253-6792.aspx

The sticker on it said something to the affect of "Marine Ignition Protected..." and cited some sort of ISO standard number or something like that.

At this point all I know is that it hasn't blown up my boat and is better than the starter I removed in that it's not seized up and starts the boat every time.