Super Jet Starter bad?

sneds · Jun 28, 2014

I'm just wondering if anyone can tell me what the resistance is on a good starter motor.

My starter is not spinning fast enough to engage the Bendix. Battery is fine (tried 2 of them that are brand new and fully charged). I have MSD quick connect terminals which are good for 50A. Had it glowing red and fused the contacts together while trying to start my ski. I'm leaning towards a short in the starter and thought I could tell by reading resistance however, I need a reading of a good one to compare it to. Anyone know what it is?

amitchell · Jun 28, 2014

Are you getting that full battery voltage to the starter? Have you removed starter and jumped it directly? Standard quick bench test for a starter is to just jump it.

I would start with that. If it spins quick its likely solenoid/cables. If it doesn't get the starter rebuilt.

@Harbor would know better though.

sneds · Jun 28, 2014

I didn't jump the battery to the starter. I am concerned if my starter motor is shorted internally, it would put a huge load on the battery and damage the battery. I'm out right now but I'm going to put a meter on the starter and see what the resistance is when I get back home. I'll post my findings.

amitchell · Jun 28, 2014

sneds said:
I didn't jump the battery to the starter. I am concerned if my starter motor is shorted internally, it would put a huge load on the battery and damage the battery. I'm out right now but I'm going to put a meter on the starter and see what the resistance is when I get back home. I'll post my findings.

I can go measure mine, my motor is out for another hour or so. BRB.

sneds · Jun 28, 2014

That would be great! Thanks

amitchell · Jun 28, 2014

sneds said:
I didn't jump the battery to the starter. I am concerned if my starter motor is shorted internally, it would put a huge load on the battery and damage the battery. I'm out right now but I'm going to put a meter on the starter and see what the resistance is when I get back home. I'll post my findings.

I get 0.3 Ohms on a known good.

sneds · Jun 28, 2014

Great. Thanks. I'll measure mine when I get home.

rickasurus · Jun 28, 2014

i just change my starter and solenoid a few weeks ago. the solenoid was just clicking and ticking when i hit the start button. i changed that over and the starter would work when it wanted. i replaced the started as well but a friend of mine is running my old starter in his ski and all i did was clean the terminals with some sand paper.. my old starter in his ski is doing the job but not reliable. i like to hit start when I'm in the water and have it fire right up, not hit the button 6-10 times before its starts

sneds · Jun 28, 2014

My starter is also 0.3ohms.... Hmmm

amitchell · Jun 28, 2014

sneds said:
My starter is also 0.3ohms.... Hmmm

Jump it

amitchell · Jun 28, 2014

Then check cables and solenoid.

amitchell · Jun 29, 2014

sneds said:
My starter is also 0.3ohms.... Hmmm

What did you find?

blaster800 · Jun 29, 2014

sneds said:
I'm just wondering if anyone can tell me what the resistance is on a good starter motor.

My starter is not spinning fast enough to engage the Bendix. Battery is fine (tried 2 of them that are brand new and fully charged). I have MSD quick connect terminals which are good for 50A. Had it glowing red and fused the contacts together while trying to start my ski. I'm leaning towards a short in the starter and thought I could tell by reading resistance however, I need a reading of a good one to compare it to. Anyone know what it is?

''' I would be concerned with the glowing and fused together part being a high resistance '' I would check all 4 solder joints on the quick connects at the point where it got hot , those connections will carry the needed amperage very easy with out glowing I also use the quick connects with no issues

sneds · Jun 30, 2014

Here's my findings so far...

I went over my ebox wiring and it all looks good. I pulled the starter motor out of the motor and pulled it apart. Everything looked good, cleaned it up and put it back together. While I had the starter out of the motor, I attached leads to the starter and jumped it to a battery. Starter spun.

Blaster800 I agree, I am very concerned. My first thought was I have a short somewhere, drawing a ton of current causing the connector to melt and effecting the starters ability to spin fast enough to engage the bendix (current was taking the path of least resistance). However, you are correct. If there was a large amount of resistance in the connector, that would also cause heat and fuse the connector and contacts together... It would also cause a voltage drop and effect the starter capabilities to spin and engage the bendix. I should mention that when I was trying to start my motor, the bendix did engage once but didn't have enough torque to turn the motor over quickly. It acted much like it would with a low voltage battery. So, what your suggesting makes a lot of sense.

I checked over my MSD connector and the soldered connections look pretty good. That being said, I do think the way they clip into the plastic quick connect housing is hokey. Maybe I had it assembled incorrectly??? (There is no instructions but it seems pretty straight forward) I didn't use any dielectric grease or anything on the connector contacts, maybe that would have helped.

So at this point, I think I'll put my ski back together and try to start it without the quick connect in the circuit... unless you guys have another idea or something else I should check first?

Thanks for the help guys. It's really appreciated.

sneds · Jul 3, 2014

Put it all back together without the quick connect in the circuit and it fired up. Bendix engaged no problem.

Thanks guys for all your help.