Most of the time my Maverick fires up just fine, but then other times the only thing I get is a Click/Thump from the solenoid. The only thing I've changed on it lately is I put in an optima battery in January. I've already replaced one solenoid when I got it. Is this one going bad too? The only other thing I can think of is I replaced the positive battery cable and I can't get the freaking terminal to fit over my battery post. I already broke one other new one trying to get it to fit. Hopefully it's something as stupid as that that's going on.
The starter has two solenoids built inside, one to engauge the starter (the thunk) and one to turn it over (probably stuck). First make sure ALL conections from the batterie to the starter are tight and secure cause a loose or corroded conection won't transfer enough power to engauge the 2nd solenoid. If conections are good to go and it still wont turn over, firmly tap the solenoid on the side or top of the starter with a soft hammer or piece of wood to unstick the solenoid. If it continues to happen after that, then you might want to consider replacing the starter. Hope this helps
I've had some bad offshore solenoids cause the same thing lately. Check all of your connections real well and if you are good with a multimeter, you can positively isolate the bad connection or component by doing a voltage drop test on all the points in the starting system.
