Many moons ago I had a starter begin to die on an older 4Runner. Since I was always broke, I made it last a few more months by tapping the starter housing a few times with whatever object I could find nearby. Instead of that single "click", it would start right up afterward, buying me enough time to save the beer money needed for a new one.
Well yesterday I was excited to get the boat out for my first lake day, but as soon as I dropped her in the water I heard that familiar *CLICK*. My heart sank. What was really odd was that the gauges would all jump into action, but soon as I would turn the key the remainder (and hear the "click") the gauges would go completely dead, as though I had just killed the battery the remainder of the way.
When I would go to the Perko switch and turn it to "off" and then back on again, I would get the live gauges before the click, but without that "hard reset" I got no gauges and no click.
The shifter is confirmed to be in neutral (I even played with it a bit.)
The safety lanyard is in place properly.
Replaced the battery with a brand new one to be safe.
Checked starter relay and surrounding fuses, but didn't suspect them due to the intermittent symptoms.
What is up with the "hard reset" changing the way the gauges and starter attempt to engage?
If this were my personal vehicle, I would suspect the neutral safety switch going out.
Hayuuuuuuulp!
-Chasity
