Couldn't restart engine

[Marian Claire]

Good to hear all is well sans the restart issue. Sounds like you have a heat sensitive electrical connection. I think the engine/engine compartment hit their highest temp just after shut down. Just look at your temp gauge after shutdown. Underway you have air flow due to motion and due to the intake of air to the carb plus the normal cooling. At shut down all that stops unless you run the blower. A multimeter could tell you allot if you test just after shut down. Dan S/V Marian Claire

[zellerj]

Interesting post on different forum on voltage drops

http://www.blumhorst.com/catalina27/atomic-4-starting-system.htm

[Mo]

http://www.blumhorst.com/catalina27/...ing-system.htm

Absolutely a good place to start since it won't turn over when this occurs.

There is another possibility as well. Armatures on starters can warp slightly...when the starter is cold it works fine...may even start to turn over slowly at first then speed up and the engine starts. Once the starter is warm, even from engine heat, the tiny bit of metal expansion cause a short as it contact the housing... and it won't work...as the engine cools the contact is lost and it again works to start the boat.

[Nick duBois]

Mo,

How warm are you talking about? I had the same problem as Sarns did when I anchored off Inner Sambro Island on the weekend. Engine ran for a few hours and I sailed back to Sambro only to have her not start a few hundread feet from the dock. Last time I tried to start her the engine temp was 110F. When I turn the key the ammeter drops to the left at 15 or more amps but not a click or sound is made. The plunger does not engage the bendix.

[Mo]

Nick,
You problem sounds a little different. Check all grounds and positive connections and check the igntion switch as well. Typically when the starter is shorted out due to armature warpage there is still solenoid "click" activation. Shorted armatures generally happen when a starter is cranked for long periods of time in a no start situation at some point. Once the problem occurs it becomes progressively worse ... the length of time it lasts is directly proportional to how much the starter is used after that.

But getting back to your problem.
-wiring is my first guess...especially check route from ignition switch
-positive and negative grounds.
-solonoid gone on starter.

[edwardc]

...When I turn the key the ammeter drops to the left at 15 or more amps but not a click or sound is made. The plunger does not engage the bendix.

There is a scenario that explains this. It's one I used to see on my Volkswagens.

The coil in the solenoid actually consists of two windings. This is because the magnetic field needed to pull-in the plunger and engage the bendix is much greater than the field needed to hold it in place once actuated. So they use two windings, and arrange things so that one is always energized when starting, while the other is only energized when the plunger is not actuated. One end of each winding is connected to the "S" terminal. The other end of one of them is connected to ground via the housing. It always gets power when +12 is applied to the "S" terminal.

The other end of the other winding is connected internally to the "+" terminal of the starter motor itself. Since the motor windings are such a low resistance compared to the coil windings, most of the 12v is dropped across the coil, generating extra magnetic field, helping to pull-in the plunger.

When the plunger pulls-in, it connects the heavy battery terminal to the "+" side of the motor, causing it to start. But this also connects the other side of the second winding to +12 too. Now, this winding has both sides connected to +12, and it draws no current, effectively dropping out of the circuit. But the remaining winding has enough magnetic field to hold the plunger engaged.

The "no start" problem occurs when some corrosion, wear, or dirt starts to build up on the brush contacts in the starter motor itself. This causes additional resistance, which in turn reduces the current through that second solenoid winding. If the starter just happens to land on one of these "bad" spots after starting, the next time you try, it won't start. Draws current, but no "click" from the plunger.

On the Volkswagen, I used to get out of this by briefly shorting the main battery terminal on the starter to the "S" terminal with a screwdriver. This would bypass all of the starter switch wiring (and its associated resistance) and provide slightly more current to the solenoid. This would be enough to "bump" the starter motor off of the weak spot, which would then allow starting with the key as usual.

[romantic comedy]

Ed, I had that problem with VWs too. There were so many starters laying around, so we never really looked into it. Now I know. Cool!

[domenic]

Sarns, when the little bitch (A4) won't do what you want, just give her a kiss between the first, and second spark plug...she'll turn over every time.

[joseph miller]

wont start

when Mo offers to help they are not hollow promises.
he just helped me with a gearbox issue this week.
when you steamed 4 hrs from Rogues was it towards or away from Halifax.

joe

Tartan 27 in Halifax NS
P.S.
Mo, as George C. says, lets go over to the Royal and scuff up their floors

[sastanley]

Good to hear all is well sans the restart issue. Sounds like you have a heat sensitive electrical connection. I think the engine/engine compartment hit their highest temp just after shut down. Just look at your temp gauge after shutdown. Underway you have air flow due to motion and due to the intake of air to the carb plus the normal cooling. At shut down all that stops unless you run the blower. A multimeter could tell you allot if you test just after shut down. Dan S/V Marian Claire

Dan, I am with you on this one. these are hard to troubleshoot.

Sarns, maybe try a jumper wire from the big battery cable on the starter (always hot as long as the battery switch is on) to the coil (+) and see what happens when you try to start. Remember that the coil is energized in this configuration and you will need to remove the jumper to turn off the engine and also to avoid frying the coil, no matter what the key position.

Mo..a good man, you are.

[Nick duBois]

fixed

Hello,

Just wanted to let you know that I took the starter off the boat opened it up, cleaned it and replaced that bolt that connects the starter to the solenoid. The old one was in bad shape it did not have much continuity. I put it all back together and it works great. It even turns and starts faster. No more dragging.