Bavaria Engine won’t start

[Gardan]

Hi I have a Bavaria 38 sailing boat 1999
And my Volvo penta md2030 engine won’t start .
I was unable to get to my boat this season till the weekend .
The boat has been with electric on pontoon all winter but not turned over . It did reluctantly start after a few goes but then after running it for an hour then leaving it over night it reluctantly started the next morning , took it out sailed for two hours then would not start , batteries saying full .
now back on pontoon and it won’t start at all after a very decent 1.5 run .
Can anyone help please ?

 

[fastjedi]

I've just had fun and games with my D1-30 not starting, further complicated by the potentially unreliable 'black box' on new engines.

When left for a few days the starter solenoid just went click ... and after 30 or 40 mins of messing around would spring into life and work perfectly all day!
Cut a long story short that was the starter motor, or more specifically the starter solenoid.

 

[yotter]

You have no doubt checked, but make the stop cable is not sticking . Give the cable a wee push to make sure, how do I know!

 

[saxonpirate]

Hi I have a Bavaria 38 sailing boat 1999
And my Volvo penta md2030 engine won’t start .
I was unable to get to my boat this season till the weekend .
The boat has been with electric on pontoon all winter but not turned over . It did reluctantly start after a few goes but then after running it for an hour then leaving it over night it reluctantly started the next morning , took it out sailed for two hours then would not start , batteries saying full .
now back on pontoon and it won’t start at all after a very decent 1.5 run .
Can anyone help please ?

If you've another person handy check to see if its actually firing.. visual smoke from the exhaust. If your batteries are fully charged, is it turning the engine over at a decent speed or is it sluggish. If sluggish it could well be the starter circuit giving problems. Check all connections including battery. Given clean fuel and good compression a diesel engine 'should' fire, and stay firing. How old's the diesel fuel. If you have a water-trap in the line, check it. Condensation in the fuel tank can produce a fair bit of water over a damp cold winter. Last question.. has this engine ever given you similar problems before..

 

[ashtead]

Seastart might be a wise investment. I would suspect fuel issues?

 

[johnalison]

The only time my 2030 didn’t start it was due to the glow plugs.

 

[ashtead]

Indeed , could be plugs I just thought fuel as it was what caused our Bavaria Volvo to misfire and by sounds of it the OPs one has been standing unused for a while . We don’t know type of filter he has though so maybe a red herring

 

[Baddox]

Hi I have a Bavaria 38 sailing boat 1999
And my Volvo penta md2030 engine won’t start .
I was unable to get to my boat this season till the weekend .
The boat has been with electric on pontoon all winter but not turned over . It did reluctantly start after a few goes but then after running it for an hour then leaving it over night it reluctantly started the next morning , took it out sailed for two hours then would not start , batteries saying full .
now back on pontoon and it won’t start at all after a very decent 1.5 run .
Can anyone help please ?

Does the starter motor turn the engine over well when trying to start it or does it sound slow/ not spin at all?

 

[tillergirl]

The 2030 is very reluctant to start from cold without glow plugs. Engage the heating and see if you can feel by hand if the glow plugs get warm. If not - replace.
If the starter doesn't tun over - e.g. with the usual click start going to the negative connections - even if they look ok. undo the connection and remake especially the negative on the starter motor.

 

[mikegunn]

Is the starter motor reluctant to turn the engine over?
Or;
does the engine turn over vigorously but is reluctant to start?

Mike

 

[Gardan]

I've just had fun and games with my D1-30 not starting, further complicated by the potentially unreliable 'black box' on new engines.

When left for a few days the starter solenoid just went click ... and after 30 or 40 mins of messing around would spring into life and work perfectly all day!
Cut a long story short that was the starter motor, or more specifically the starter solenoid.

I've just had fun and games with my D1-30 not starting, further complicated by the potentially unreliable 'black box' on new engines.

When left for a few days the starter solenoid just went click ... and after 30 or 40 mins of messing around would spring into life and work perfectly all day!
Cut a long story short that was the starter motor, or more specifically the starter solenoid.

Question : I have a fairly new solenoid starter motor just maybe 3 yrs old with little milage , however that said are they prone to sticking if left for 9 months over a winter as I have done this past winter ?

 

[Gardan]

You have no doubt checked, but make the stop cable is not sticking . Give the cable a wee push to make sure, how do I know!

Yes checked quite a few times in neutral and stop lever in and out , is it possible this stick even when fully home ???

 

[Gardan]

If you've another person handy check to see if its actually firing.. visual smoke from the exhaust. If your batteries are fully charged, is it turning the engine over at a decent speed or is it sluggish. If sluggish it could well be the starter circuit giving problems. Check all connections including battery. Given clean fuel and good compression a diesel engine 'should' fire, and stay firing. How old's the diesel fuel. If you have a water-trap in the line, check it. Condensation in the fuel tank can produce a fair bit of water over a damp cold winter. Last question.. has this engine ever given you similar problems before..

Hi I didn’t have another person to try and start whilst listening to solenoid starter , but feels like not much is happening at all. Like dead sound no noise from engine

 

[Gardan]

Does the starter motor turn the engine over well when trying to start it or does it sound slow/ not spin at all?

No spin , no action or noise from engine I can hear from top side

 

[Gardan]

The 2030 is very reluctant to start from cold without glow plugs. Engage the heating and see if you can feel by hand if the glow plugs get warm. If not - replace.
If the starter doesn't tun over - e.g. with the usual click start going to the negative connections - even if they look ok. undo the connection and remake especially the negative on the starter motor.

Can you please indicate where the glow plug is on the engine please ?

 

[tillergirl]

Drawing1 by Roger Gaspar, on Flickr

One illustrated. There are three below the injectors. They are very easy to replace.

With no life at your starter motor I think your first action is to check the terminals on the starter motor. For me, it looked fine but when I undid the negative, cleaned it (which didn't look like it was dirty) and redid it and that solved the problem. Then check your battery connections. They might look ok but mighjt be in need of remaking the connections.

Do you have a Both-1-2-off battery switch. Again they can fail to provide sufficient power to the starter. This failed after many years of use:

P1040422 by Roger Gaspar, on Flickr

 

[yotter]

Yes checked quite a few times in neutral and stop lever in and out , is it possible this stick even when fully home ???

You could check the engine end of the cable, make sure it is not stuck, probably not but a simple check worthwhile perhaps.

 

[Tranona]

If the starter motor is not turning then the problem is either with the motor or more likely the connections rather than the engine. So leave the engine alone and concentrate on first cleaning the connections to the starter and the start battery. The Bavaria is very simple. It has a dedicated engine start battery so first check that is OK, then the connections to it, then the positive connection to the starter and negative to the engine.. The Volvo 2030 is normally an instant starter although it may need a little glow plug when cold.

 

[RivalRedwing]

If you are not aware - do be careful about excessive turning over of the engine with the cooling water seacock open - you can get an (expensive) hydraulic lock inside the pistons. To avoid - just close the raw water seacock until the engine fires.

 

[johnalison]

If the starter motor is not turning then the problem is either with the motor or more likely the connections rather than the engine. So leave the engine alone and concentrate on first cleaning the connections to the starter and the start battery. The Bavaria is very simple. It has a dedicated engine start battery so first check that is OK, then the connections to it, then the positive connection to the starter and negative to the engine.. The Volvo 2030 is normally an instant starter although it may need a little glow plug when cold.

The instructions with the 2030 tell you to use the glow plugs even when the engine is warm or hot, so that is what I do, though I generally give them seven seconds instead of the ten suggested.