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2000 Mercury Optimax 200hp trouble starting #12526107 12/04/17 02:46 PM
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CM0512 Offline OP
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I am having a odd issue with my 2000 Optimax recently. Both saturday and sunday this past weekend I have had trouble getting the motor to start first thing in the mornings, at first it doesnt want to crank at all and after playing with the kill switch a bunch it will crank then once it starts to turn over it struggles to turn over and start up, once it does start its fine for the rest of the day. Does anyone have any advise as to what could be causing this, or a good shop to bring it to the in the DFW area?

Re: 2000 Mercury Optimax 200hp trouble starting [Re: CM0512] #12532337 12/09/17 01:04 PM
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hardheadking Offline
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This sounds like a poor connection to your starting battery. I had a similar experience with my old school 90hp merc. I made the mistake of having several connectors stacked on the battery post. At first it acted like a low battery or weak starter. After I moved the main motor cable to a separate battery post on its own the problem went away.


Don
Re: 2000 Mercury Optimax 200hp trouble starting [Re: CM0512] #12532562 12/09/17 04:37 PM
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T Bird Offline
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First easy trouble shooting step is to pull start battery and have it load tested. Might be a weak cell under load. Free test at auto parts store.


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Re: 2000 Mercury Optimax 200hp trouble starting [Re: CM0512] #12532591 12/09/17 05:00 PM
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Bob Landry Offline
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Also take the connections apart and clean with scotch brite and spray with some kind of anti corrosion spray. If you are using wing nuts on the battery terminals, throw them away and replace with stainless hex nuts. Make sure you have tight connections on all of the terminals.


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Re: 2000 Mercury Optimax 200hp trouble starting [Re: CM0512] #12533478 12/10/17 05:06 PM
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gary purdy Offline
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Sounds like you may have a bad fuel bulb or a fuel leak that allows the fuel to drain back. Turning the key on and off several times could be re-priming the fuel system. Batteries are a known to be a culprit on many Optimax problems but your only having issue first crank in the morning makes me think fuel system problems.


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Re: 2000 Mercury Optimax 200hp trouble starting [Re: CM0512] #12533882 12/11/17 12:00 AM
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OPTI Offline
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What size battery do you have all Opti's need 800 cca to 1000 mca...... OPTI

Re: 2000 Mercury Optimax 200hp trouble starting [Re: CM0512] #12534064 12/11/17 02:44 AM
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CM0512 Offline OP
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Thanks for the responses everyone, It turned out that the starter solenoid was going bad.

Last edited by cmorsch; 12/11/17 02:44 AM.
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