Solenoid Sticking

I had the same problem on my '83 a couple years ago. I rebuilt the starter and replaced the solenoid. Still same problem. I then bought what they called a 'heavy duty' solenoid from the local SN dealer, still same problem. I was talking with an electrical engineer and he asked how old the battery cables were. I assumed they were original. He suggested checking the ground and if that did not help, replacing them. He explained that the wire will sometimes get corroded and break down, not letting enough current through resulting in drawing too much through the positive cable. I didn’t quite understand it, but thought what’s it going to hurt? I went to my local electrical shop and they custom built some out of heavy wire, and no problems since. I think it was 2-O welding wire and they soldered the ends on.    (It only took 4 solenoids to get it right.)

Hope this helps. There’s nothing worse that trying to disconnect the battery when the motor is turning over.

Andy
Michigan

PCM/CC recommends the type 43 marine battery that has a cold cranking amp rating of 380 amps. Seems low to me, but that is what is in my Owners Manual. Higher cold cranking amps will do no harm.

Solenoids should not stick that often. The battery cables and size of battery have absolutely nothing to do with them sticking unless they continously chatter due to low voltage. The solenoids come in 2 models: A continuous rated coil and an intermittent duty coil. You should have an intemittent duty coil (referred to as a starter solenoid most of the time). A continuous duty coil soleniod looks identical and can say they are starter solenoids but usually have about 1/2 the current rating. Generally solenoids can fail due to overtightening of the studs which causes the internal contacts to rotate a bit and go out of alignment causing them to weld together.