Going sideways in this thread a bit, what problems do people have with starting their engines? I can speak for us, and the many people I've helped with engine problems over the 16yrs we've been cruising outside of easily accessible land support.
In these instances, a dead start battery is probably the most common reason, but this is usually because it ran down trying to start the engine for a longish period of time because something else was preventing it from starting. It is also an easily solvable problem with a jump pack or ability to parallel in the house battery to start the engine.
A dead starter is probably the least common reason we've found. Starters do die, but they tend to do so with lots of warning. And much of the time it is actually poor or dirty connectors and not the starter. When it is the starter, it usually begins its relatively long death by not starting, but easily turning over when you whack it with a hammer. This can go on and off for quite a time before the starter actually stops working completely. Even then, the problem is almost always the solenoid, which can be jumped with a screwdriver. In my life, I can't remember a starter with clean connections and good ground and a good battery simply stop working without having given warnings in the past, nor one that has stopped and not being able to work by jumping the solenoid. I'm sure it happens, but it is rare. We still carry a spare starter though. The aftermarket ones are so inexpensive and take up little space so why not.
Other than the above, the more common causes for an engine not starting have been fuel issues, air issues, mechanical (injection pump, injectors, etc) and other reasons where having a hand-crank engine wouldn't help.
So a dead start battery is common, but more easily and quickly solved by other ways than hand cranking, and a suddenly and permanently dead starter is so rare I've never seen it, but solved with a $50 spare and 30min of time installing it. All other reasons for a dead engine are generally things that need to be solved before the engine will start by any means.
Mark
In these instances, a dead start battery is probably the most common reason, but this is usually because it ran down trying to start the engine for a longish period of time because something else was preventing it from starting. It is also an easily solvable problem with a jump pack or ability to parallel in the house battery to start the engine.
A dead starter is probably the least common reason we've found. Starters do die, but they tend to do so with lots of warning. And much of the time it is actually poor or dirty connectors and not the starter. When it is the starter, it usually begins its relatively long death by not starting, but easily turning over when you whack it with a hammer. This can go on and off for quite a time before the starter actually stops working completely. Even then, the problem is almost always the solenoid, which can be jumped with a screwdriver. In my life, I can't remember a starter with clean connections and good ground and a good battery simply stop working without having given warnings in the past, nor one that has stopped and not being able to work by jumping the solenoid. I'm sure it happens, but it is rare. We still carry a spare starter though. The aftermarket ones are so inexpensive and take up little space so why not.
Other than the above, the more common causes for an engine not starting have been fuel issues, air issues, mechanical (injection pump, injectors, etc) and other reasons where having a hand-crank engine wouldn't help.
So a dead start battery is common, but more easily and quickly solved by other ways than hand cranking, and a suddenly and permanently dead starter is so rare I've never seen it, but solved with a $50 spare and 30min of time installing it. All other reasons for a dead engine are generally things that need to be solved before the engine will start by any means.
Mark
