Yanmar starter relay

[mikedefieslife]

I have a whole new unit. The starter and solenoid are always sold as a single piece, unless you are just buying spares.

[bill good]

Mikedefiaslife, Check where the neg (earth) terminal from the battery is. I found it best to put that heavy battery earth wire in the bolt holding the starter motor. The plug & sockets are bad on old installations in that 30A circuit. Some have cut out the plugs & sockets others have installed relays.

[MikeFergie]

My intermittent problem was solved by changing the “ solenoid “ that sits at the top back of the engine next to the exhaust elbow. Not what we consider the solenoid on the starter itself.
Try getting someone to turn the key and when you hear the click tap this solenoid and it will start. They are expensive from Yanmar at $100.

Til I could get a new one I was just bridging this out with long nose pliers

[mikedefieslife]

Originally Posted by bill good

Mikedefiaslife, Check where the neg (earth) terminal from the battery is. I found it best to put that heavy battery earth wire in the bolt holding the starter motor. The plug & sockets are bad on old installations in that 30A circuit. Some have cut out the plugs & sockets others have installed relays.

That is where it is. Fresh 50mm2 cable on the bolt that holds the starter to the engine. I have also moved the relay negative their too.

Press the stater button and I get a click , press it again in another way and the engine fires up immediately. Thing is the button can't be the problem now that I have added the relay. Also when it isn't working, hot wiring the terminals at the button/key switch doesn't work, but jumping them at the solenoid does.

[Wotname]

^^ Without wanting to sound condescending but are you sure it is the solenoid clicking and not the relay?

[mikedefieslife]

It's both.

I've had the relay click with the solenoid do nothing. Now I have the solenoid click. It will start pretty much 100% of the time with a few presses now. It's just weird because practically everything that matters is brand new.

[Wotname]

This must be frustrating!

Time to get the voltmeter out and chase down the problem, I do wish you good luck and with persistence, you will find the problem.

[jimbunyard]

Sounds like either a bad power source to the push button, a bad wire from the pushbutton to the relay 86 terminal, a bad power source to the 30 terminal, or possibly a bad wire from 87 terminal to starter solenoid (though I think I remember that that one's new). Any of these can be tested by sequentially disconnecting the harness and jumping the appropriate circuit with a length of wire and an alligator clip. (for simplicity in the order listed above)

Hopefully it's not too snide, but this one's really 'not rocket science'...

[mikedefieslife]

Bit of an update on this.

It solenoid that comes with the starter is no longer working. My additional relay (Yanmar relay mod) clicks nicely and supplies power, but the solenoid will not do anything, even when jumped across the large and small terminals.

The starter itself springs into life when it's jumped, and spins up nice and powerfully. It doesn't engage the engine though unless the engine is in gear.

[wsconner]

I have pretty much the exact same problem.. trying to add a working/tested relay and I get nothing. Did you ever figure it out?

[team karst]

Much easier with two people. DMM with needle/sharp probes can solve this mystery in 30 minutes.
In the last year, i found an intermittent starter push button and several female flag terminals that slip on the little cube relay. And also a bad starter pinion stop. It got so bad on the last cruise that it took 2 to start the stb engine.