eavega
Lieutenant
- Joined
- Apr 29, 2008
- Messages
- 1,377
Hi all
So, I have a 1988 Mercruiser 3.0L 135 HP I/O with some strange or unexpected behavior when starting up. If the boat has been sitting for a time (usually about 6 days, Sunday to Saturday), If I turn the key from the off position to start, I get nothing. No clicking, no attempt to engage the starter, nothing. If instead I turn it to the run position and leave it there for about 30 seconds, then try to start, kicks right off. Observing the Voltage gauge on the dash, I see that by leaving it in the run position, the voltage slowly crawls up to just past 12 V. Once initially started and warmed up, then there is no hesitation to engage the starter. I've learned to not try to start the motor until the needle on the voltage gauge stops moving. Is this a symptom of a battery starting to let me know that its time has come? I don't have a history to the battery other than it came with the boat when I purchased it almost two years ago. I know the battery should have a marking indicating date of manufacture, but I can't find it. The only other thing I can think of is that there would be some component that puts a load on the system immediately upon being engaged, and until that component is not "charged", then there is not enough juice from the battery to turn the starter. I did put a new Pertronix coil and electronic ignition module to replace the points last year. I don't recall the ignition behaving this way when it had points, but then again I think I only went out on the boat 3 or 4 times before doing the conversion. Any thoughts or observations would be greatly appreciated.
Rgds
Eric
So, I have a 1988 Mercruiser 3.0L 135 HP I/O with some strange or unexpected behavior when starting up. If the boat has been sitting for a time (usually about 6 days, Sunday to Saturday), If I turn the key from the off position to start, I get nothing. No clicking, no attempt to engage the starter, nothing. If instead I turn it to the run position and leave it there for about 30 seconds, then try to start, kicks right off. Observing the Voltage gauge on the dash, I see that by leaving it in the run position, the voltage slowly crawls up to just past 12 V. Once initially started and warmed up, then there is no hesitation to engage the starter. I've learned to not try to start the motor until the needle on the voltage gauge stops moving. Is this a symptom of a battery starting to let me know that its time has come? I don't have a history to the battery other than it came with the boat when I purchased it almost two years ago. I know the battery should have a marking indicating date of manufacture, but I can't find it. The only other thing I can think of is that there would be some component that puts a load on the system immediately upon being engaged, and until that component is not "charged", then there is not enough juice from the battery to turn the starter. I did put a new Pertronix coil and electronic ignition module to replace the points last year. I don't recall the ignition behaving this way when it had points, but then again I think I only went out on the boat 3 or 4 times before doing the conversion. Any thoughts or observations would be greatly appreciated.
Rgds
Eric
