Just replaced the starter in a 97 350 merc. Turned over fine at the house; polished her up and got to the ramp.... errrr. You know the sound. Question is, could the fly wheel have a bad spot on it? Bad-new starter? Or is there something else I'm totally missing? Any help would be appreciated.

sleek,

There is an old thread that was originated in 2004 by "Dyno" called "Help, I'm in starter hell!" It was just brought up here again in the tech section about a week or so ago because some people had more questions/problems. Do a search on that thread and you will find all kinds of senarios of what could be wrong.

there are all kinds of reasons for it not to start you can do as stated above or get the manual and follow the flow chart,

it could be anything from bad batt,cable connection,bendex,flywheel ect

and yes have seen bad starters right out of the box

I have also seen bad starters right out of the box , not just reman'seither brand spankin new ones with missing parts or just plain didn't work. Check all of your connections. Clean and tight, I don't like using the wing nuts that come with most marine batteries, change them to a good stainless nyloc. check the ground connections at the block if ya have to take it off and remove all the paint from under them. Ed

Thanks guys,
I'll go over everything in a couple days. Very frustrating. Just can't figure out why the engine started in the driveway but not on the ramp. I'll take a look on Wed.

Found the problem, the boat must have ingested some water last season. Pulled the spark plugs and 2 starboard and one port cylinder had water drain out of them. Changed everything and it fired up. Still have to take a look at the new starter/flywheel. Still grinds once and a while, then fires on second start. May have screwed up some teeth when the moter was "locked up". Thanks for the replies.