starter costs ££££££

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icepatrol

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after a long lay up the marina electrician reconnected my starter/solenoid plus a couple of sensors.
no probs you would think.
upon turning the ignition key the lights dimmed and the solenoid was clicking but then a burning smell.
it seems i need a pre solenoid and my starter motor re conning?
is it me or could the electrician of rewired wrong ????
£413 for starter overhaul and pre solenoid ?
is that dear ?
 
If it was me I would take the starter motor to an auto electrician he'll be able to test it and fix or replace it much cheaper. Removing a starter motor is not that difficult as long as you have easy access to it. Just remember where the wires go back on. Also there are plenty of sellers on Ebay selling new starter motors for various marine engines.
 
icepatrol said:
after a long lay up the marina electrician reconnected my starter/solenoid plus a couple of sensors.
no probs you would think.
upon turning the ignition key the lights dimmed and the solenoid was clicking but then a burning smell.
it seems i need a pre solenoid and my starter motor re conning?
is it me or could the electrician of rewired wrong ????
£413 for starter overhaul and pre solenoid ?
is that dear ?
Click to expand...

For a boat like that? Cheap as chips!

Why did the starter need re-connecting in the first place?
 
starter

thanks chaps for your reply,
the wiring had to be dis connected prior to engine rebuild.
engines are detroits.
i not sure what a pre solenoid is either.
 
http://shop.ebay.co.uk:80/i.html?_n...oit&_osacat=0&bkBtn=&_trksid=p3286.m270.l1313

An ebay search throws up a number of Detroit Diesel starters at prices far better than your quote in addition to one which will make your quoted price look much better. This is however rather meaningless as the brand name covers a host of engines so you will need to discover which particular starter you have. As has been suggested a local auto electrician should be able to help.

Presumably the starter was working before the engine overhaul and the re-assembly of the wiring was in some way contributory to the failure. Has the engine been run since it was overhauled? Who has responsibility for overseeing this work?
 
Detroit stroker..........

Electrical yard monkey is on drugs. The DD experts here will confirm, however 99% certain that you will have a Delco Remy 42MT starter, probably one of the most reliable, robust, easily repirable AND LEAST EXPENSIVE starter motors known to man.

Pre solenoid..as the yard monkey is from the planet Zog I woild suggest he is on about the starter relay, another Delco item I expect, usually about a tenner. Look up as AMS aux magnetic switch (Foreign peoples bound by a common language)
 
Not too sure about the rest of the thread but if the lights dimmed and the solenoid clicked that's usually due to a poor battery voltage - the solenoid clicks in to send the power to the starter motor, there isn't sufficient power to turn the engine, voltage drops the solenoid clicks out and then it all starts again.

Unless it was just one click of course......that would mean the starter motor itself was seized but they are fialry simple bits of it and more often fixable than needinf replacement
 
starter solenoid

it appears the pre starter stuck......so i am told. this damaged the starter. so i am looking at around £300 - 400 for a replacement...yuk....
and cant prove it was damaged when the "electrician" re-connected it.
the starter was fine before it was dis connected.
 
icepatrol said:
it appears the pre starter stuck......so i am told. this damaged the starter. so i am looking at around £300 - 400 for a replacement...yuk....
and cant prove it was damaged when the "electrician" re-connected it.
the starter was fine before it was dis connected.
Click to expand...

Methinks you need a second opinion, probably from your local auto electrician. My local chap did a rebuild on a volvo alternator for under a £100 when a replacement from a dealer was quoted at several hundred.

Look for an auto electrical service repair chap in your yellow pages. They often work out of the modern equivalent of a railway arch, and tend to be sensible about their pricing, even if they realise it is off a boat.
 
icepatrol said:
it appears the pre starter stuck......so i am told. this damaged the starter. so i am looking at around £300 - 400 for a replacement...yuk....
and cant prove it was damaged when the "electrician" re-connected it.
the starter was fine before it was dis connected.
Click to expand...

You describe hearing the starter clicking and that the lights dimmed. Did the engine turn over or start? For how long did you run the starter? If the solenoid stuck the starter motor could well be damaged. Did you hear the starter motor running? Who re-installed the engine after it was overhauled? Did they not run it?
 
If you have a long cable run between the ignition key and the starter you should have a extra solenoid switch close to the starter ...... which reduces the amount of current running through your starter switch which burns out the contacts and increases the resistance in the circuit.

If the burning smell is coming from the wiring harness ..... i.e. on the low current / switch side then you have most likely got either a short or a corroded connection. If it is coming from the back of the switch, the switch points are probably burnt out. If the smell is coming from the high amp side ... the big wires feeding the starter from the battery ..... the starter motor is shorting, or is siezed, or the engine is seized, or you have low batteries and you've had the ignition switch over for more than 15 seconds.

Maybe someone else can add to this ....
 
starter overhaul

thanks for your imput guys,
the engine didnt turn. just the clicking sound then the burning smell. t. but he worried me when he stated he wasnt sure were a certain wire went. he only had 4 wires to reconnec t. and it was him who disconnected them in the first place. the engine was rebuilt in situ. the marina electrician reconnected the starter after rebuild.
does that help ?
 
icepatrol said:
thanks for your imput guys,
the engine didnt turn. just the clicking sound then the burning smell. t. but he worried me when he stated he wasnt sure were a certain wire went. he only had 4 wires to reconnec t. and it was him who disconnected them in the first place. the engine was rebuilt in situ. the marina electrician reconnected the starter after rebuild.
does that help ?
Click to expand...


I'm sorry but a charging circuit on your engine is not exactly rocket science and no doubt the Marine Electrician didn't come too cheap. That degree of uncertaincy under those circumstances, i'd be far less than satisfied with.

Bottom line, if you're not comfortable doing too much self diagnosis, find someone else to look at it. Any reasonable car mechanic would be able to resolve the issue for a reasonable sum.
 
electrian marina

yes both myself and the two mechs with me at the time questioned his abilitys.
i asked the man in charge at the marina to confirm the wiring but when i returned with my own electrician the starter and associated parts had been removed and sent to a repair company. so my man couldnt confirm my worries that the original guy had miswired.
i have the starter back(in bits) but this just confirms my worries about a cover up.,
am i paranoid ?
i never asked for the starter to be removed.
this is all part of many other probs and questions i am asking about this marinas work.
this electrician feels my charger is wired incorrectly also.
weird as its been fine for the last 3 yrs when it was installed.
 
icepatrol said:
yes both myself and the two mechs with me at the time questioned his abilitys.
i asked the man in charge at the marina to confirm the wiring but when i returned with my own electrician the starter and associated parts had been removed and sent to a repair company. so my man couldnt confirm my worries that the original guy had miswired.
i have the starter back(in bits) but this just confirms my worries about a cover up.,
am i paranoid ?
i never asked for the starter to be removed.
this is all part of many other probs and questions i am asking about this marinas work.
this electrician feels my charger is wired incorrectly also.
weird as its been fine for the last 3 yrs when it was installed.
Click to expand...

Trust your gut feeling on this one. The "didn't know where one wire went" line rung huge alarm bells for me. As I say, this isn't some complicated modern electrical/electronic system. This is 'hammer and chisel' technology and any electrician should atleast know what each wire does.

Honestly, my immediate impression is that it's an utter botch-up by those that have worked on your electrical system and I would a) not let them go anywhere near your engine again and b) be doing all I could to dispute any payment.

I seriously smell a rat on this one.
 
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