Boat won't start ???

OK, here's the problem. I had a dual battery setup with VSR added over the winter to my 2005 Supra 21v , just in time for spring. The boat now has a 1 yr old battery and a new battery. Jim at Viper Customs did the install. Since day 1 of getting the boat back, the engine has been slow starting. Initially, you would have to hold the key over for a second or two longer than usual and it would start. It has slowly progressed to turning the key and nothing happens. You can hear it click in the engine compartment and nothing. Usually after a 3 or 4 attempts, the engine would start right up. After starting, if you ever cut the engine...it may fire right back up or do the same thing again. However, it has always started and I haven't found it to be that big of a deal until today. It did it today after being out for a while and we actually starting swimming the boat in. However, it finally started and we surfed the rest of the day, not turning the engine off. After putting it on the trailer, I cut the engine and tried to restart it (still in the water) without success. So, now what??

Thoughts....

Viper Customs did "hot wire" it to check the VSR. Maybe they didn't get something connected back correctly? If so, what?

Vapor Lock? I don't think so though.

Bad starter?

Bad Battery (even though I have 2 now with the VSR)?

Bad Alternator?



Any help would be appreciated.

sounds like a loose connection or a corroded connection.

Or your 1 year old battery, since it more than likely won't be as efficient as the new one both batteries will be limited by one being weaker than the other. If the connections are OK I would check that next. I would have thought that a shop that is putting in a battery component wouldn't leave corroded connections in place and would probably check to make sure they're tight but who knows, maybe it was knock off time when your boat was picked up and someone wanted to go home.

Did you get your battery tested by any chance?

Could also be a faulty solenoid on the starter not delivering power consistenly. Check the post where the big positive cable from the battery joins the starter, if you have play in there it may be time for a new solenoid/starter.

I took the starter battery to Autozone and it checked out....so that's not the problem. I took all of the connections loose on both batteries and checked for corrosion (none), then retightened everything very snugly...still not starting. Next, I located the starter. The positive connection had a little play in it. I tightened it up (tight spot). The boat did turn over briefly and I cut it off (no water supply, just trying to turn it over). However, never able to turn it over again.

Was getting late so tomorrow I will remove the postive wire on the starter and clean it all really good with sandpaper and try again. If that doesn't work, I'm assuming I need a new starter.

Thoughts?

if you look in yellow pages there may be a local rebuilder that can test and rebuild your starter for much less than buying one.

I had same problem in my '06 21 V and had to replace the starter.

Yeah it does sound like the starter.. Don't get it tested.. I had one doing the same thing so I brought it in to an autozone first, when they did the test it worked like it was suppose to . so I brought it back and put it back on and still the same thing.. I took it to a local shop ( somebody I knew ) he tested it and it worked fine there also. but he let me take a new one home to see if there was any problems.. I put the new one on and it worked and is still working today.. That also happen to me with a car starter..

Same thing happened to me this season. You need a new starter. BTW I have a 2003 Supra SSV, and am running dual blue tops. It sounds exactly the same as me, starter started having a delay last season, then it finally went out. Good luck with your problem, hope i helped

BTW i have a 2003 supra ssv. The symptoms you described were my exact same problem. Bit of a lag, hold key in start, then boat started. It finally went out though. I am running dual optima blue tops btw