Stater issues on 8 71's and almost out of ideas.

[Shaunc]

I am hoping that someone can save me from going crazy......

I had a bank of 32 v batteries going bad so as i decided before my trip they needed replacing (should be on a trip already and now stuck on the dock)

Here is what happened that lead up to the problems.

While installing the batteries and hooking up the last jumper, the hatch lid decided to fall. As  I grabbed the hatch the jumper shorted out across to the next batter and sparked and glowed red hot. So with a hatch in 1 had i grabbed my hammer to push off the jumper with the handle so i did not burn my hand.

My new batteries had lead melted on them from the terminals. As i was hooking up the the threads I figured let me finish the install and check if the batteries we ok. I finished the install, did a test start, all started ok.

I was dumbass and did not shut my switch of to the motor. My mistake.

Yesterday morning as I was about to leave the dock for a trip, the port side starter made a loud slamming noise Like the bendix was hitting the flywheel and bouncing back but not turning it.

Did a couple of checks and decided to pull the starter. Ran it over to the rebuild guys. I got a call this morning. The bushes were burnt out and signs of burn wear on the windings. Said could be from heat due to low voltage or high voltage.
They rebuilt the starter and put on a new solenoid. $285. While starter was out I cycled the flywheel to make sure the ring gear was not damaged, it was all ok.
I installed the starter motor and tested it and it fired right up. Then i did a second test and it did the same slamming and then started. I shut it down and then did a 3rd and back to square one. Not starting and slamming.

I cleaned the terminals when hooking up starter ans sparyed them with corrosion X . So I figured I must have screwed up my batteries. So I ran and got another set and installed them and still nothing. Just the same sound slamming.

I found out that my parallel solenoid was no longer working and it was that is how I was starting the engine and that is why I decided to change the batteries. But this should not be the cause of the problem???

Tested voltage at every terminal along the way and had 34.5 v all the way to the starter. Maybe the battery on /off switch to the motoer had gone bad, pulled that and hooked it up to by pass the switch. Same sound and no starting.

I checked every connection, cleaned every connection and still nothing.
What am i missing?
Day 2 of misery stuck to the dock.
I need to get off the dock and hoping someone can save me !!!

[Briankinley2004]

You got me but I can tell you just because you have the volts doesn't mean you have the amps to turn the starter motor. Did you try paralleling since you rebuilt the starter?

Edit- I see your parallel switch is out. Sounds like something else going on with the shorted batteries. Can you remove the bank that was shorted out and run a heavy jumper to the good bank and try then

[Shaunc]

That was my plan for tomorrow morning. The batteries have the same amps as my last ones, i did think about that.

The parallel went out same time batteries shorted.

Could it be a bad starter button, just thinking about everything possible?

[scottinsydney]

Bush mechanic's thoughts...

Is slamming the same as clicking? A solenoid will click, a slam would be the starter gear engaging but not turning the flywheel.

Try bypassing the heavy duty cables between good batteries to the starter. And replace battery connector cables. You may have fried the heavy duty cables between battery bank and motor and ALSO the the cables that put the batteries in series. Connectors may have lost connectivity. Motor may also have lost its earth.

Previous post is correct that you need amperage/current to engage and turn the flywheel. You have volts but not posibly amps/current.

You should be able to resolve with a few sets of ultra heavy duty jumper leads.

Replace the ignition fuse in the metal fuse box. Should be possibly a 20 amp fuse.

Please keep us posted on the solution. Good luck.

[Captain Ralph]

Hopefully you did not reuse the fried strap.
Or any cable involved in the short loop.

[Shaunc]

Yes, its definitely slamming and not clicking when starter engages.

I have made up new jumper leads for the batteries.

Ignition fuse in metal box? Dont believe I have seen that or its been modified/eliminated.

Let see today, going to run heavy jumper cables from batteries to starter and see if that at least works.

Day 3 stuck at the dock.

[Lmcruiser]

Have you retested the batteries. Last summer had port engine (6-71) suddenly not start but selonoid engaged with a clunk sound. Battery voltage was normal with reliable volt meter. Thought at first since engine would not turn over that I might have had an injector leak and hydrolock. This was after having my service guy help. But then we used a battery tester with load and it turned out that batteries which were about 6 years old were dead. Surface voltage normal but dead with load. Hope that helps.

[davidwigler]

Hard to see how a dead short at the batteries fried the starter or the parallel switch. You didn’t operate either one during the short.

Check and clean the ground terminals at the batteries and at the engine blocks.

[miboatnutz]

Seeing as how the electrical short had things glowing red hot and battery terminals melted per your description, I'd be inclined to do the following:

1. Shut that battery bank off.
2. Disconnect positive and negative battery cables at the bank leading to the engine/main feed
3. Remove and closely inspect all jumpers used in that bank of batteries.
4. Perform a battery load test on each individual battery in that bank. If they're 8 volt batteries you might need to borrow a load tester from someone who sells that voltage battery who has a tester (most are six or twelve volt).
5. If everything checks out OK then I'd put it all back together.
6. We always keep a heavy duty set of jumper cables on our boat in case the parallel switch takes a dump. I'd connect the jumper cables from the opposite bank to the positive and negative engine leads of the bank in question and see if the engine starts using the opposite bank of batteries only without a problem. Would actually start the engine a few times to verify that the starter is working properly on a good bank of batteries.
7. I'd then remove the jumper cables and reconnect the leads to the bank in question and try and start the engine again. If you continue to have a problem then the issue is between the bank and the starter and at that point have ruled out the batteries and connections.

If I had to guess, I'd say the fireworks probably caused a partial short in one or two of the batteries and when you engage the starter it has enough current to energize the Bendix but not enough to actually turn the starter under load (engine compression), hence the knocking or clunking noise.

Just my 2 cents.....

[Pascal]

I think you stated the problem in the first post:

“ My new batteries had lead melted on them from the terminals”

God knows what happened inside...

Personally I m not a big fan of parallel solenoids, I prefer a simple heavy duty battery switch. They rarely fail.. I haven’t installed a parallel system on my repowered cummins but it will be a battery switch not a solenoid