Took the boat out this weekend, ran great. Came home, hooked up muffs, started the boat to flush the engine and as it was running noticed a whining noise then some smoke coming from the engine bay. Shut down the engine since I couldn't hear where the noise was coming from. Went to restart just to see if I could trace the noise. The selenoid clicked, but starter didn't spin. I'm going to replace the starer and hope I didn't bust up any teeth. I'm hoping its just that its a 14 year old starter. Looking at replacing it with an MSD high torque starter. anyone ever experience the same symptoms with a starter going bad?

I had that exact problem on a cruiser last year. The ignitiion switch hung in the crank position even when you let the key go. Starter stayed engaged while the engine was running and it got fried along with a bunch of wiring. Lots of smoke and the starter was litterally fried in its carcass.

I have had good luck with dbelectric.com marine starters.

doesn't have to be purely electrical fault. coulda just hung up drive (starter bendix) on sticky corroded unlubed shaft and kept spinning until it came apart...if so, still suspect ign switch and slave solenoid.

Any recommendations on slave selenoids? I might as well replace that too.