Troubles Starting

MTG85

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Hello All,

I had to get a tow yesterday from a buddy, when the boat would not start. It's a '98 Bennington with a 50hp Honda 4 stroke. At the slip it fired up and we went out a mile or so to fish. After deciding to move, I got it to crank twice, but when I put it in gear it would shut off. Once we got pulled back to the slip we tried a few more times and it did crank but then died in gear. As we were leaving, I noticed that a dock rope had tangled in the prop, which makes sense for why it shut off in gear. Untangled it, and tried to crank a few more times with no success.

When I turned the key on the water and back at the slip, all gauges would come on, and I'd hear a faint single click sound back toward the motor, but there was no kind of turn over. This happened about a week ago and I jiggled the throttle a little bit, as if it had been in gear, and then it cranked right up and ran all day, even with me turning it off several times. The neutral button seemed to be sticking down a bit yesterday. Also, the kill switch/emergency lanyard is not in and hasn't been in for a few months with no trouble.

Any ideas on troubleshooting? Is it just not getting into neutral for some reason or is there a fuse/breaker somewhere I should check? Another thought- often times when I crank it and give it a little gas, all of the gauges seem to trip (if I give it a lot of gas to crank) but the boat runs great.

Thank you for any advice, I really appreciate it!

Mark
 
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One more thought- a few months back the boat would run around 5500RPM at full throttle, but now it doesn't seem to get to 5000, more like 4500. Not sure if this is a throttle issue that may be related to the starting problem or what. I changed the fuel filter after it lost throttle at high speed a few times. It has lost throttle once since changing the fuel filter (I also suspect it needs a new fuel line/bulb), but other than that it's ran great on a weekly basis. Thanks again for any help!
 
If that would start without the lanyard connected, you have a problem and a dangerous one at that. It should not start or run without that connected.
 
Yeah check that safety switch. Also, I believe there is a switch that momentarily cuts off the ignition to allow the gears to mesh as the motor is coasting, when going into forward and reverse. The shift action happens so quickly that the switch returns to closed and the engine fires right back up. Might have to adjust and tighten a few things in the control and on the engine.
 
I would work the kill switch several times since it could be a dirty switch contact. The other thing is to make totally sure you have it in neutral when cranking.
 
Thank you for all of your replies! I went back yesterday and the boat fired up right away over and over again. The neutral button did feel normal again. I took the battery out and trickled charged it for 2.5 hours before it reached full, so I'm hoping this was a simple battery issue. I should be getting the kill switch today (so much cheaper on Amazon than West Marine) and am going to see if that will make it easier to crank. Thanks again!
 
Fingers crossed...
 
One more thought- a few months back the boat would run around 5500RPM at full throttle, but now it doesn't seem to get to 5000, more like 4500. Not sure if this is a throttle issue that may be related to the starting problem or what. I changed the fuel filter after it lost throttle at high speed a few times. It has lost throttle once since changing the fuel filter (I also suspect it needs a new fuel line/bulb), but other than that it's ran great on a weekly basis. Thanks again for any help!
If you haven't done so, change the entire fuel line from the tank to the motor. It has a tendancy to collapse internally and restrict fuel to the motor, this could explain the loss off RPM.
 
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