I have a 2003 Mercury 115 hp efi 4 stroke. While fishing recently I could not get it to start --nothing, no grinding, no solonoid clik, nothing. Tried moving the throttle around to be sure in neutral(the throttle is somewhat sloppy and sometimes won't start until moving the throttle around) --still nothing. Continued to try to start for about 2 hours until got a tow--nothing.
About 5 minutes after start of tow, motor started in a flash and now always starts.
This has only happened once.

But I am very nervous about this problem. Any thoughts??


An additional piece of information:

Occasionally (every other day fishing, perhaps) when I start the engine, it starts and immediately shuts off, and the depthmeter/gps shuts off too(almost like a power surge ,or drain).
Is this the same problem as above?
Does this help clarify what's going on, or a separate problem?

My 60hp EFI 2002 Merc will start initially, but after a run of 15 minutes and a shutoff, it will not start. After a wait of 30 minutes it will start. If I remove the motor cover, I can run, stop and start all day. Maybe a hot voltage regulator?

jpozl
Have your battery and battery connections checked.
There should NEVER be wing nuts on the battery, hex nuts tightened with a wrench.
Your owners manual should tell you the minimum battery requirement for your motor.
You can never have too much battery but it is easy to have too little.
And unless you are camping or running a trolling motor, don't buy a deep cycle battery.