Hard starting 3.7 89 welcraft NEED INPUT

CrAzYsEaN

Recruit
Joined
Jun 29, 2010
Messages
5
So my boat has a hard time starting and turns over REAL slow most of the time. I am chalking it up to bad (weak batteries) as of now. I have a dual battery set up with a purgo switch. The batteries will read about 12.1 ish but as soon as i try to start the volt meter drops and with a multimeter hooked up to them then read nothing, like .48 while starting....and the engine turns over realllly slow. So I killed the batteries on the lake yesterday and had to be towed back...anything else I am missing that could cause the engine to turn over real slow....have good oil, coolant the basics. Also I have a 1 wire alternator and its putting out a solid 14.1 volts, is that to much and can it just be loosened to turn it down a little????

Second off I looked all over this site for the gasket that goes under the main coolant tank on the top of the engine for a closed coolant system and I cant seem to find it anywhere...mine has a slow leak and wanna replace it before it gets worse, any ideals where to find it?
 

CrAzYsEaN

Recruit
Joined
Jun 29, 2010
Messages
5
Re: Hard starting 3.7 89 welcraft NEED INPUT

Thanks for that sites...they were perfect...

As for the batteries Im not really sure how old..i just got this boat about 2 weeks ago. The PO told me that one was real old and the other he replaced last year...but they both look a little beat up. One is 650 Marine Cranking amps and the other says 800 marine cranking amps. Which kind should a be running on a 19 ft 3.7 liter boat???
 

a70eliminator

Captain
Joined
Sep 9, 2007
Messages
3,762
Re: Hard starting 3.7 89 welcraft NEED INPUT

The windings in a starter can break down and cause high amp draw and it will act just like a weak battery, you can have the starter load tested or you just try another battery.
12.7V doesn't indicate a good battery unless it's been sitting for a few days, even a bad battery fresh off the charger or fresh off a running alternator will read above 12v for a little while.
 

stonyloam

Vice Admiral
Joined
Mar 13, 2009
Messages
5,830
Re: Hard starting 3.7 89 welcraft NEED INPUT

Take your batteries in and have them load tested, NAPA, or Autozone should be able to do it for free.
 

180shabah

Rear Admiral
Joined
Mar 26, 2005
Messages
4,995
Re: Hard starting 3.7 89 welcraft NEED INPUT

agreed, age on the batteries is irrelevent, have them tested.

12.1v is a dead battery
 
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