On Wed, 15 Aug 2007 20:22:42 -0400, "Roger Long"
wrote:

Please help me advise a friend whose boat I was looking at today trying to
get the engine running.

10 HP 2 cylinder Volvo diesel in an Albin Vega

Last time he started the engine, there was a buzzer like noise from behind
the switch panel but the engine started and ran. Not sure if buzzer noise
went away or not, I wasn't there.

Next time, there was the same buzzer noise but nothing else, not even a hint
of starter trying to go.

I went to look at it today and found that there had been a small fire inside
the elderly mechanical voltage regulator, not enough to keep it from making
a nice warning buzzer sound as one of the toasted relays chattered but
clearly enough to render it useless for anything except a doorbell.

Question: Would it be foolish to just swap in another regulator and see what
happens? Judging from the terminals, it's been fairly moist in it's
location. Could it have just gone bad on its own or is there likely an
underlying problem.

Battery is 12.9 volts but we didn't have time to dig any deeper.

It looks like kind of an oddball set up. Manuals he downloaded from the
Internet for the engine and voltage regulator say that it has one of the
combination starter / generators which I assume is the long, dual belt, unit
on the side. There is also an alternator that looks alike an addition from
the style of the mounting frame.

It sounds like some sort of "shade tree mechanical work" as the
voltage regulator, if that is what it is, is normally mounted on, or
close to, the alternator/Generator however if this is one of those
starter-generator things that Bukh used to install then all bets are
off.

If it were mine I'd try disconnecting all the 'lectrics except the big
cable to the starter and then "jump" the starter to see if I could get
it to run -- but only just run, not more then 20 - 30 seconds. Then
shut it down. If that works then the engine is all right and you'll
have to get someone to untangle the electrical system.

Since I don't know the existing condition of the electrical system my
suggestion about disconnecting everything to avoid short circuits.

Don't run the engine for any length of time until you have fitted some
sort of oil pressure indicator. Initially, perhaps, just a mechanical
gage screwed into the oil pressure sender hole - they are practically
all 1/8" pipe fittings.

My *guess* is that it originally had a starter-generator and an
alternator was added at some later date. and you've got a mess of an
electrical system.

Can't help much from here except to sympathize with y'all.


Bruce in Bangkok
(brucepaigeATgmailDOTcom)