Banging yer starter motor

D

DaveNTL

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Ever had one of those days where you start a small job and end up with a bigger one? I just have!

I've spent the day at a blustery anchor trying to start the engine. Not that I was going to go anywhere - it started like this.

The engine hours run meter stopped working so I took it out, had a look, I think it's ok so I started to look into the engine room to check the terminal on the alternator.

Before I got to the alternator (it's on the oposite side to the easiest side to access) I saw a loose wire on the sender. Tried to crimp that back on, made a pigs ear of that, made a note to buy crimp type contact things and wrapped the wire temporarily around the screw and tightened it.

Then I went to turn the engine on to see that the guage worked ok - bugger didn't start. It went.. click click click. *many curses*

Got the Yanmar manual out (it's a 110HP 4LH-TE) and it goes into all the detail you need to strip down everything.

I didn't fancy stripping down everything straight away - it might not be that serious eh? So I had a look to see what Nigel Calder says in his diesel engine book - he tends to be a bit more layman which suits the plumber in me.

He says try giving the starter a 'tap' if it's an inertia type, as, I see threads on here have said. But mine's a 'pre-engaged' starter and by the sound of it we're not going to make the wedding cos Calder says 'if a pre-engaged starter whirs without cranking the engine, the teeth are almost certainly stripped off it's pinion or the flywheel geer'.

So what would you do? As I'm not really in a position to get spares easily - call a mechanic? /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif That's admitting defeat!

What I don't understand is the was no previous problem or warning. Could I have loosened a cable? I checked that - don't think so.

Anyway, the Boss wants me to get a mechanic and she's always right so she tells me, what do you think?

Apologies if this is long but I did edit out the bit where I got the spare anchor out incase the CQR failed while I have no engine (recent threads got me paranoid) and the problems I had there with rusty old shackles etc.
 
With a pre-engaged starter you can do a test by running a live (+12v) lead directly to the small terminal on the starter solenoid. Just strike the cable to the terminal for a quick test.

This should engage the drive gear.

SAFETY FIRST:- Isolate the engine start battery so that the starter will not spin the engine.

If the jump test above didn't work then it seems that the starter could be faulty. Double check the earth connection as well.

If it did work then check through your engine start wiring from the keyswitch onwards.

Now you can switch on the engine battery and retest with your test lead. The starter operation being:-

Power to solenoid, solenoid makes and internal switch passes power to starter motor.

How we doing so far?
 
have you checked the battery voltage, as a weak battery will give the same symptoms. Also make sure you have a good connection on the back of the starter from the battery. too much resistance on any dirty connection can cause the solenoid to kick in and out.
 
If its easy to get the starter off, remove it and check that
the pre engage gear in the solenoid is free on the shaft
even a little rust stops 'em throwing in
 
I agree with MAD_BUNNY. As a first step recharge the battery or try another one.

Checking the voltage may be misleading as in an old or damaged battery this can drop very significantly under heavy load but may appear fairly normal when not under load.

If charging/changing the battery doesn't do the job, then look into the other good suggestions that have been made here.
 
If all the connections are OK and you have enough volts, its going to be the solenoid, It its a 2 stage operation, 1st it pulls the pinion into mesh with the flywheel teeth, and as the magnet reaches the end of its travel it closes the contacts that lets the heavy current through to spin the starter. Its hanging up because of either rust or its knackered, I seriously doubt its the teeth as you would have had some nasty noises already.
Easiest is to take the starter off and check it on the bench, connect the + power to the small terminal on the solenoid, and the minus to the starter body it should kick in, make sure your fingers are clear!
If it hangs up try a bit of WD40 and a screwdriver to slide the pinion along its spiral. If it works then also connect a + to the big terminal on the solenoid and check it spins after engaging.
If the solenoid is duff you should be able to source one from a good auto factor as the Yanmar replacement is'nt cheap.
 
make sure batteries are fully charged if still no joy, if you can get to solenoid connections ram a heavy spanner across the big connections wear gloves and do quick,you wont get a shock as voltage is too low.this will prove if its solenoid or starter,try not to go across the threads but across the nuts.sounds dramatic but is not a prob. if you do quick and smartly,did it lots of times when in the REME.
 
[ QUOTE ]
have you checked the battery voltage, as a weak battery will give the same symptoms. Also make sure you have a good connection on the back of the starter from the battery. too much resistance on any dirty connection can cause the solenoid to kick in and out.

[/ QUOTE ]

Well, thanks very much for your replies. I've sorted it and this is what it was, bad battery connection.

Stupid of me really, I suppose my 'excuse' is that I thought my tinkering with wires was somehow connected, even though I (sort of) knew it couldn't be - the nature of the fault and my tinkering being unrelated to each other.

What happened is (doesn't excuse me not going through the obvious checks first of course) - I've had a new generator fitted and the company that did it had the starter battery disconnected and not tightened it up properly.

Found it because I went to start the genny and the panel lights dimmed and that wouldn't start either.

If I did a thread on what this 'leading american yacht manufacturer with a service side' did wrong you'd be amazed and they'd probably ask me for the 'substantial (but still inadequate) discount' that they gave me back. Worst part was, it took two weeks out of our trip to get everything sorted.

You live and learn!

So now all I've got to do today is see if I can fix the hour meter and replace the rusty anchor shackle.

Thanks again - forum always comes up trumps.
 
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