3.0L hard starting

[TBarCYa]

Yesterday I started the boat in the driveway on muffs and let it idle for a couple minutes, but not very long. When I got to the ramp it cranked slowly and but refused to start so I took it home and put a different battery on the charger overnight. This morning I put the charged battery in and it started right up. I trimmed the drive up and hauled it to the ramp. In the water, trimmed down and again it cranks slow but eventually does start. The GPS said 14.5v the whole time we were out but we didn't shut it off for fear it wouldn't start.

So the question is what could be causing the slow crank? I have 12.4v on the battery with the engine off and 14.4-14.6 with it running. The batteries are over 2 years old and were used in a previous boat so they could just not be able to provide enough current to start it, right?

 

[Alumarine]

If that 12.4 volts is accurate it means the batteries are either weak or not fully charged.
They should be 12.6 volts.
You should be able to get them load tested at a parts store.

 

[nola mike]

Poor connections are always a suspect as well

 

[TBarCYa]

I put the meter on it and when cranking it drops below 8v so I'm off to the store to get it tested and replaced. After cranking for 3 brief periods of 2 seconds or less it only came back to 12.5v after coming off the charger right before testing.

 

[TBarCYa]

New battery fixed it. Thanks everyone!

 

[Scott Danforth]

thanks for closing the loop.