On Wed, 27 Oct 2010 20:39:38 -0400, "Flying Pig"
wrote:

Hi, Gang,

Trying to insert info to either satisfy curiosiity or squelch criticsims
from the many barbs (and also to fill in blanks on the helpful ones) slung
at me along the way, here's how it all worked out:

I have an 880 AH house bank and a Group 27 marine deep-discharge starting
battery. They are connected to a Blue Sea switch. I have 4 total sources
of potential charging - Wind, Solar, 110A alternator and 70A inverter
charger (energized by shore power, very rarely at a dock, or through a Honda
eu2000i).

All charging sources are in good condition. As we nearly never run the
diesel, the other three are the usual charging sources.

All connections were inspected and tightened, and if it looked warranted,
removed first and burnished before replacement. Some of the connection
points were able to be tightened further than they were. At least one of
them, despite no movement possible without fear of breaking either lugs,
mounting posts or wire, proved to be useful, as the battery thingy (how's
*that* for scientific) discussed at length here in the past, designed to
pulse the battery to minimize or even cure sulfation, has not winked at me
for as long as I can remember - it does, now. So, either at the battery end
or the positive charging buss, tightening helped.

Despite that, nothing seemed to improve matters. Removing the wiring from
the switch, and then metering between the posts in all positions either had
no resistance or infinite resistance, as appropriate. However, it was noted
that the switch was miswired during installation by my electrical contractor
of the time, name left out to protect the innocent. The start lead was on
the start battery post. Thus, it was never able to be isolated from the
starter battery. It was moved to the common, allowing isolation when in
"off" or "House" mode. In "all" or "Start" mode, energy would be delivered
to the starter through the starter battery, or through the house battery if
in "House" or "all" mode.

That wasn't a full cure. The engine would start on the house bank, but only
with a shot of WD40 as encouragement. Of course, once started, it was much
more compliant with starting in subsequent attempts without that boost.
Still, it was reluctant to start on the house or start battery alone.

Off comes the starter. Turns out that the brushes COULD stand replacement.
More significantly, the ground straps to them are held in by self-tapping
screws. One of them was loose. New brushes and a replacement, longer (to
overcome the stripped tapered end of the loose one) machine screw assured a
better connection - "Dad's Chandlery" to the rescue!

While I had it out, I got the numbers off it so I can get a replacement when
I'm back in the states. I'll save the one I have as a spare, but not before
I have the commutator turned. Like every brushed motor, there was some lip
on it, but, significantly, not all the way around. The one with the loose
screw likely caused it to stop in the same place each time and, as well, not
have as much energy at that part on the commutator during startup (of the
starter), thus preventing as much wear as the rest of it...

Sure enough, the starter was a great deal happier after reinstallation.
Voltage drops during cranking (fuel off) were the same at the batteries and
the starter, so the wiring was OK. However, a mere "clunk" happened when
trying to start on just the start battery; the house bank turned it somewhat
slowly. That's what led to the exercise with the switch, shown above out of
sequence in the troubleshooting.

Well, dang. Pry open the non-serviceable cells and stick hydrometer in the
plenty-full cells. Sure enough, a bad cell. Didn't bother to do all of
them :{)) I cringe to think of what my still-under-warranty (of course, not
here) 80 buck battery will cost to replace. The guy I sold my spare
injectors to also had to replace his, so I expect I'll be in for a similar
300 or so for mine.

My electrical wizard (Andrew, if you're ever in the Abacos, is widely
recognized as the guy who, if there's a wire attached to it, can figure it
out, fix it, or make it work, if it's not destroyed) assures me that a new
battery will easily start this engine. So, back to NAPA/AID tomorrow for
another battery.

Meanwhile, I've had an annoying drip of diesel fuel at a banjo bolt in the
injector pump. Not a flow, not a squirt, but a drip, over time. Analysis
has it that is why a shot of WD40 let it start immediately - it had
depressurized, and turning it over to start took longer than it should to
bring it back to full pressure. Finding crush washers for this banjo bolt
will be interesting, but our dear friends who've just sold their boat
finally used copper washers instead of the aluminum ones when they faced
about the same problem in the Caribbean; perhaps, even though there are
currently no aluminum washers to be found, I can find some copper ones.
I've previously tightened that bolt to the degree that I feared I'd do one
of my Sampson routines and break it, as I have done on so many other bolts;
I'd be really in it if that happened, so didn't push it. I'm sure that will
help.

My understanding was that you had a 4 cylinder Perkins engine?
40107/4-108?? If so then you have a CV fuel injection system which
uses solid copper washers under banjo fittings.


As a final test, we ran the battery down (it had shown slap full all day, as
it started full when we began, and the wind and sun kept up with the loads
we had on) by running the microwave and all the other AC devices we could
find, and all the DC loads we could turn on. When the voltage had dropped to
12, and the amphours were down over 50, we energized the alternator, pushed
back in the fuel shutoff (enabling fuel), and hit the start button.
Vrroooom! on "both" "Clunk" on the starter battery (no surprise).
RRRVrroooom! on the house bank.

Andrew first did all the things I'd already done, and was beginning to get
frustrated, despite allowing that he had a similar patience quotient to
mine. It was then that the starter came off, the connections were tightened
to the degree I was concerned for breakage and, significantly, the starter
lead moved to the common point from the start battery point on the switch.
Those were the differences from what I'd already done. 2.5 hours, including
doing the checks I'd done, and he was outta here (not counting the time he
went back ashore to pay some bills while I went to NAPA for the brushes, of
which I got two sets so can do this again if I need to). In all this, he
was cheerful, instructive (not minding my looking over his shoulder to learn
along the way) and accepting of, or needing, my help. I confess to having
dug out my remote starter switch as it got a bit tiresome to run up and down
the companionway for each start sequence, but that aside, we got along
famously.

So, absent only the final proof that the new, presumed outrageously
expensive, starter battery will, in fact, start the diesel, I'd say we'd put
that one to bed. I'll do some further testing later by intentionally
letting the battery bank get low and seeing if it will start that way,
before we head south. I've got a bunch of to-do's so I'll be occupied for a
few days, anyway. However, given the drain we put on as a test, I will be
astounded if it doesn't kick right off.

Why an "expensive" starter battery? Why not a common ordinary truck or
auto battery. Wet cell, just check it once in a while,

Thanks for all the commentary and helpful hints. Aside from the pain in the
wallet, my only niggle left is those banjo bolt crush washers. Fixing that
will no doubt help, along with keeping my engine pan dryer!

L8R, y'all!

Skip
Cheers,

Bruce
(bruceinbangkokatgmaildotcom)