mattkab
Senior Member
Hopefully I can tap into the wonderful knowledge here and the experts in the group can help me diagnose a problem with my engine. I hate when people spoon-feed facts in these threads, so I’ve tried to outline the full amount of information in one very large dump of text.
Last year, my boat had a problem with the starter. I ended up getting towed home for the first time in 15 years of boat ownership, and had the starter professionally rebuilt and re-installed: https://mvcesc.wordpress.com/2015/07/30/first-ever-tow/ We’ve probably run the boat for 20 hours or so, on half a dozen day trips since.
The past few times we’ve gone down to the boat there has been a loud squealing noise when starting. Sounded exactly like fan belt noise, so I went down to the boat last night to replace the belt.
After changing the belt, I turned the engine right over and observed things. Everything seemed great at idle. As I increased RPMs a slight whine started, but quickly went away (10 seconds?) and figured it was just the new belt. Everything seemed fine, and we continued doing some work on the boat in preparation for a cruise this weekend.
After a few minutes (15? 20?) my wife noticed smoke coming from the starter area. I investigated for just a few seconds, and then shut down the engine. There was an electric motor noise coming from the starter area with the engine off. I toggled the ignition switch to see if it was stuck, to no effect.
I then disconnected the negative battery cable to the starter. I was very hot — too hot to use bare hands to unscrew the battery terminal and had to use a wrench. The motor did not shut down immediately, and took approximately 20 seconds for it to slow down and finally stop. Smoke remained for another few seconds.
Before leaving for the night we tried to start the engine again, since the problem seemed isolated to the starter. The starter made noise (turning), but didn’t appear to have enough torque to turn the engine over.
Those are the facts of the case.
My assumption is that the starter solenoid stuck, and shorted the starting battery, draining it to the point it didn’t have enough amps to turn the engine back over. If I’m correct, if I got back down to the boat tonight and try to turn it over, it should work fine if the solenoid hasn’t completely failed. Replacing the solenoid (a $30-$50 part) seems prudent. Does this make sense? Anything else I should do or check?
Edit: I should point out that the "smoke" in the starter area was just small whisps of white or grey smoke. Not heavy exhaust smoke. No noticable smell at all.
Last year, my boat had a problem with the starter. I ended up getting towed home for the first time in 15 years of boat ownership, and had the starter professionally rebuilt and re-installed: https://mvcesc.wordpress.com/2015/07/30/first-ever-tow/ We’ve probably run the boat for 20 hours or so, on half a dozen day trips since.
The past few times we’ve gone down to the boat there has been a loud squealing noise when starting. Sounded exactly like fan belt noise, so I went down to the boat last night to replace the belt.
After changing the belt, I turned the engine right over and observed things. Everything seemed great at idle. As I increased RPMs a slight whine started, but quickly went away (10 seconds?) and figured it was just the new belt. Everything seemed fine, and we continued doing some work on the boat in preparation for a cruise this weekend.
After a few minutes (15? 20?) my wife noticed smoke coming from the starter area. I investigated for just a few seconds, and then shut down the engine. There was an electric motor noise coming from the starter area with the engine off. I toggled the ignition switch to see if it was stuck, to no effect.
I then disconnected the negative battery cable to the starter. I was very hot — too hot to use bare hands to unscrew the battery terminal and had to use a wrench. The motor did not shut down immediately, and took approximately 20 seconds for it to slow down and finally stop. Smoke remained for another few seconds.
Before leaving for the night we tried to start the engine again, since the problem seemed isolated to the starter. The starter made noise (turning), but didn’t appear to have enough torque to turn the engine over.
Those are the facts of the case.
My assumption is that the starter solenoid stuck, and shorted the starting battery, draining it to the point it didn’t have enough amps to turn the engine back over. If I’m correct, if I got back down to the boat tonight and try to turn it over, it should work fine if the solenoid hasn’t completely failed. Replacing the solenoid (a $30-$50 part) seems prudent. Does this make sense? Anything else I should do or check?
Edit: I should point out that the "smoke" in the starter area was just small whisps of white or grey smoke. Not heavy exhaust smoke. No noticable smell at all.
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