mercury 402 starting issues

I've got a 1980 402 40 hp. mercury that wont turn over. Battery fully charged, and positive lead on harness gets hot when attached to battery. BTW not siezed and makes a clicking sound when turning key. I'm thinking it's the solenoid , however I don't want to order parts until I am a little more sure. Thank you for any and all advice. CHEERS

put jumpers on streight to starter and ground on block-- bypass solenoid - see if it turns over - if yes its the solenoid is bad - if no its the starter locked up

[url=https://www.tinboats.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=321710#p321710 said:

Rich27028 » 56 minutes ago[/url]"]put jumpers on streight to starter and ground on block-- bypass solenoid - see if it turns over - if yes its the solenoid is bad - if no its the starter locked up

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I agree if it doesn't spin with this method it would mean there is a problem with the starter, not necessarily that it's locked up though. And just because the starter spins doing this test, does not narrow it down to a bad solenoid. There could still be several other reasons for the failure to turn over. Just went through this same scenario with my buddies motor last week. Starter spins when solenoid bypassed but won't start with button. Turned out to be the fuse on the + voltage line going to the start button.

If your positive lead is getting hot just by connecting it to the battery and without trying to use the starter, it sounds like you have a short some where. If you don't own a multimeter and you intend on doing your own electrical repairs, you should invest the $10-$15 to get one at Sears/Lowes/etc. A cheap one will do just fine.