starting mystery...

[weinie]

Universal m18 on Catalina 27.
I go to start the engine...no sound at all! I check the voltage at the starter wire terminal on the starter while pressing the start button. I get voltage.
I hook the wire back up and just as I'm just about to give up, the engine cranks but wont start. After a few tries I drain the muffler and try a few more times. Eventually it starts. After running a few minutes I shut it and try starting it a few times more without any issue.

The engine has started without any problems several times already this year.

Any ideas?

 

[Stu Jackson]

Yes, there is a small fuseholder between the start button and the starter cleverly hidden underneath the alternator. Find it, replace and I suggest putting it away from its current location, like above the level and behind the alternator. On my boat, that fuseholder crumbled when I picked it up!

 

[weinie]

It was the first thing i checked and it was fine.
And if it was bad, I wouldn't have gotten juice at the tail end of that wire when I pulled it off the starter.

 

[weinie]

...and why the difficulty in getting the engine to turn over? Is it possible that the engine or starter was seized "temporarily "? Once it started once, it started after that with a just a split second push of the starter.

 

[Maine Sail]

...and why the difficulty in getting the engine to turn over? Is it possible that the engine or starter was seized "temporarily "? Once it started once, it started after that with a just a split second push of the starter.

Sounds like a bad connection, corrosion or the dreaded Universal wiring harness blues... Could be a bad starter but eliminate wiring harness and connections issues first..

 

[weinie]

Sounds like a bad connection, corrosion or the dreaded Universal wiring harness blues... Could be a bad starter but eliminate wiring harness and connections issues first..

I will check and clean all the contacts again tomorrow.

Maine,
On a related note, while I was looking at the wiring at the starter, I noticed the red 10gauge wire that runs from the starter to the panel looks like it must have overloaded and burned a hole through the insulation. Over the winter, I did hook up the alternator directly to the starter as per your instructions. I'm not sure if the this happened before or I did the rewire. I did notice that there was no fuse on this wire!
Anyway, I will put an inline fuse on tomorrow. Hopefully I don't have a short somewhere. The hole in the insulation is a couple of inches after the connector at the starter post, right where I would put the fuse anyway. Is it necessary to completely replace the wire though?

 

[weinie]

Update:

I went back to the boat yesterday and it started right up. I made sure, though, to hold the glow plug button down for a good minute. Had a great day sailing and no problem restarting when getting ready to head back. I'm hoping that the problem the engine had turning over was simply caused by not giving enough time on the glow plugs again after playing around with the starter wiring for several minutes.

Anyway, back at the dock, I scraped the fuse terminals for the starter wire which looked like it had a bit of oxidation on the ends and I also cleaned off the terminals and connectors at the solenoid. Im hoping that a bad connection here was the cause of the starter motor failing to energize.

I reread the section on starters in Nigel Calder's Diesel Engine book, so should I have more problems, I now know how to "jump" it out the solenoid and starter with a screwdriver. This will tell me if the problem if the problem is confined to the wiring or solenoid and not the starter itself.

Regarding my previous post above, I cut the wire to the panel an inch above where the hole in the insulation was, stripped the wire which was a nice, bright copper color, and added a 25 amp inline fuse from Blue Seas. The original wire is a nice size 10 gauge that originally carried all the current from the alternator, up to the panel, through an ammeter, and back to the starter. Since I've now wired the alternator directly to the starter, the only current the wire should pull is for the items up at the panel including the gauges, blower, fuel pump, glow plugs, and starter energizer. Originally, I was a bit concerned that the wiring for the fuse (about 5 inches worth) was undersized, being only 12 gauge, but since the alternator is no longer in that circuit, I think I should be safe. Other than the blower, I didn't have specs on how much current each item uses. That not withstanding, should the fuse blow, I know I most likely have short somewhere.

So knock on wood, I think I'm good to go!