Yanmar Start Panel problem

[KevO]

I have a start panel like this one on my 2GM20F. Halfway through this season I found that on occasion, pressing the start button had no effect whatsoever. No click or any other sound (as far as I could tell with the buzzer sounding anyway )

Sometimes the next press would work fine and she would fire up straight away, sometimes it would take a few attempts to get the button to do anything. Once the switch works the engine fires up perfectly.

I plan to troubleshoot every connection in the starter circuit but I wonder if a particular part might be on the way out. Suggestions?

 

[JumbleDuck]

Sometimes the next press would work fine and she would fire up straight away, sometimes it would take a few attempts to get the button to do anything. Once the switch works the engine fires up perfectly.

I plan to troubleshoot every connection in the starter circuit but I wonder if a particular part might be on the way out. Suggestions?

This is a very well known problem. Possible solutions include

• checking the fuse in the loom which everyone forgets is there
• cleaning or replacing the switch
• cleaning or replacing the solenoid on the starter motor
• improving the battery connections
• dressing the flywheel ring gear teeth

Any, some or all of these may be necessary. The starter system is a bit marginal at the best of times and may fail because of a number of small deteriorations in various parts of the system.

If nothing happens at all, the problem is most likely to be the switch or That Fuse

If the starter motor solenoid clicks and the lights don't dim or flicker it's most likely that the starter pinion is jamming on the ring gear - with a pre-engage system the solenoid engages the pinion and then in the last small bit of travel connects the battery to the windings. If the pinion doesn't fully engage, power is never applied. In this case you may need to clean up the gear teeth or overhaul the solenoid.

Finally, if the cabin lights flicker or dim everything is probably working but you have a bad high-current connection somewhere.

In my case - 1GM10 - I found that improving the heavy duty wiring reduced the number of missed starts from about 2 in 3 to about 1 in 5, reducing the issue from "gut wrenching inducer of fear" to "occasional peeve".

 

[Cloven]

As said, common problem. Here's a link to a recent thread I started.

http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthrea...relay-on-Yanmar-2GM20F&highlight=Yanmar+start

And an older one

http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthrea...!-Yanmar-Advice-needed&highlight=Yanmar+start

I also contacted E P Barrus about this and their response was:

"I think the problem might be the start button itself not making contact internally. Start switch can be purchased as a separate item, part number 124070-91300, retail price is £34.74 plus VAT."

In view of that I have also bought a new control panel start button although not had a chance to fit it yet.

 

[deckhanddave]

Until this year I had exactly the same thing happening on a 2GM20. When it happened I was never in any doubt that it would start after a few pushes but until I read threads regarding this problem I had always thought it was just a case of there being a "sweet spot" on the starter button.
I changed the service and starter battery setup this year and while doing this work found a key type isolator switch had very slight corrosion. I cleaned this off as a matter of course and when the boat went back in the water found the starter was working first time every time. As I was fitting new isolator switches I don't know if the problem was down to the contacts in the switch or the terminal connections.
I would start by checking your battery cable connections through to the starter motor. It worked for me and continued working perfectly all summer.