Hey guys, looking for some experienced insight into figuring out where to start for my starter issue. I just got done swapping a new motor into my boat and initially, it would crank over fine. Now it's probably a 20% chance after its sat whether or not it'll start. I can hear the starter slave clicking when I turn the key to the start position, and it only does it while in neutral, so I don't think it's a NSS issue? The starter has a red, yellow, and orange wire going to it, as well as the battery cable, and the ground wire was up on the head, but I moved it back to the stud on the bell housing with no change. There isn't much access to the starter or slave the way they fit in the boat, but is there a way for me to Hotwire the starter and bypass everything to see if it works before having to pull it, as it requires pulling my manifolds to get enough access to lift it out

i would replace the remote slave solonoid first,much easier to change and they are prone to failure,if problem persists change the starter.

Unfortunately mine is behind my oil cooler and in a non visible spot, I was hoping to not have to replace it without being able to test and see if it was in fact the problem. I may try and see if I can get something in there to bridge it and see if it kicks the starter. I'll need to remove my oil cooler, and riser to get to it...crap

I may do all new cables first from my batteries and see if that fixes it first.

try tapping on starter while, someone at the helm tries to turn it over

I had this issue and it was a grounding problem. Pulled my starter bolts. Cleaned em with wire brush and reinstalled. Issue fixed. If it happens to me again I'm buying new bolts.

I had just a small click on solenoid and no starter action. Pulled started and bench tested.

You could try connecting a jumper cable from starter body to neg batt terminal to see if it's a grounding issue.

Sounds like low voltage / ground issue. If the starter relay/ solenoid was bad there would be no clicking sound. When u have low voltage some times the starter drive stays engaged. If it does the motor will never start because the drive needs momentum before it will spin the motor. When u are chasing a low voltage issue it's always good to spin the motor by hand a little in case the drive is stuck engaged...

sorry, but i disagree with baja. a solenoid is an electromagnet that pushes a washer up against two contacts. in the slaves case, they are right under the bolt heads you jump witha screwdriver. contacts are burnt or washer stuck, will click all day and sometimes fire the starter.