Hi Rick,
Let me think about that. It could be that the engine is, indeed, running hot and needs to cool down before it's easy to start. It could also be that the starter motor's bearings are going bad so that it requires higher starting currents when hot. You can purchase a really inexpensive infra-red thermometer from Radio Shack that you just point and press a button to get the temp -it works from like -100 to + 500 or something ridiculous. The starter shouldn't get much warmer than the engine block, especially if it's disengaged. The engine block should get to around 180-200 degrees anywhere you point. The transmission might get warmer. But everything should be well below 250 degrees.
Be careful as 140 degrees is scalding. It does sound temperature related.
Bob
On Mon, Aug 4, 2008 at 6:23 PM, Rick Dugger < ([email][/email])> wrote:
Bob,
Last season the 8D was working with the engine cool or hot, although it progressively became sluggish at cranking a hot engine. The 8D finally gave up the ghost back in June of this year and I replaced it with the group 27. It had difficulty starting a hot engine from the get go. It starts it fine when the engine is cool.
All of my house bank batteries are of the 6V wet cell variety and the starting Group 27 is a 12v wet cell.
Thanks
RickOn Mon, Aug 4, 2008 at 8:52 PM, Robert Fine < ([email][/email])> wrote:
Rick, there are several reasons a group 27 won't start the engine, especially if it did last year – one, it's low on water or was at some point, two, the engine is running hot and you don't know it yet, and three, the engine is still 'tight' from being new. That's the least likely. I use a group 31 for my start battery on a W58. But if you have a charging system that expects a fancy battery (like AGMs ) and you're running flooded batteries you may be cooking the group 27. It will show up as bad long before the big 8Ds show up the problem.
Hope that helps…
Bob
On Mon, Aug 4, 2008 at 7:02 PM, John Stevenson < ([email][/email])> wrote:
Rick,
I assume that during the time the engine is cooling down your are back in your slip and the battery charger is charging the start battery.
If that is the case I would look at the Duo Charge system you are using to charge the start battery when the engine is running. I'm not familiar with this system, but it may be similar to the battery combiner I use on Sarah. Mine is wired the opposite of what you appear to have. The combiner connects the house battery to the alternator output once the start battery is above 13.3VDC. The original combiner on Sarah failed in 2006 on a passage from Lagos, PT to Gibraltar. The result was all the navigation instruments and lights went out in the middle of the night. Similar to what you do for your start battery I manually combined the batteries which restored power to the instruments and allowed the alternator to recharge the house battery.So it is possible the Duo Charge system has failed and is not providing sufficient charge to the start battery. A quick test would be to check the voltage of the start battery after the engine has been running for a few minutes. If the start battery is being charged the voltage should be 14VDC or more.
A fully charged Group 27 should be adequate to start the engine. I'm temporarily using a Group 27 to start my Yanmar engine with no problems.
John
On Mon, Aug 4, 2008 at 5:35 PM, Rick Dugger < ([email][/email])> wrote:
Has anyone experienced this situation and have recommendations?
Eclipse (#73) was repowered by the PO in 1999 with a Westerbeke 63C.
Last season I did not seem to have this issue. It appears to have developed this season.
The engine start battery, an 8D, was replaced early this season because it was old and got to the point it wouldn't start the engine cold or hot. I replaced the 8D with a Group 27.When the engine is cool it cranks quickly and starts quickly.
When the engine is hot (engine has been run for a while, turned off) the start battery really really struggles to turn the engine over (it cannot turn the engine over fast enough to start)… I have to combine my house bank with the start battery to get it started.(I use a Balmar MaxCharge 612 to charge the house bank and a Balmar Duo Charge to keep the engine start battery charged.)
Do I just not have a big enough start battery?
Is the starter suffering from some heat related disorder?
ThanksRick
Eclipse—
Regards,
John Stevenson
http://www.svsarah.com—
Bob Fine
Fine Software LLC
Your data on the web your way. No kidding
—
Bob Fine
Fine Software LLC
Your data on the web your way. No kidding
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