Darin Jordan
Petty Officer 3rd Class
- Joined
- Aug 18, 2009
- Messages
- 75
OK, here's the setup. I have a 1990 Maxum 2400SC with a 7.4L/Bravo that has about 295 hours on it total.
It is setup with dual batteries: One starting battery (850cca) and one deep cycle house battery, both wired to a standard dual battery switch with 1-both-2 (starting battery is wired to 2, house to 1).
I normally turn the switch to 2 and start the motor. It turns over OK... sounds a tad slow to me, but turns over and starts fine when cold.
However, once the motor is warm, whether on the trailer or in the water, the starter barely turns over, almost to the point of NOT turning over. I let it cool down some with the blower fan on, and it'll eventually turn over fast enough to get the motor started.
The battery wiring is all very fresh and I've cleaned and corrosion protected all the terminals. Starting battery is new, the house battery is older but still has some life in it. I don't tie them together normally.
I'm suspecting that the Armature is absorbing the heat and swelling, but I thought I'd run it by those here with more experience with boats.
On my older Pontiacs with headers, we used to paint the starters flat white and it would actually keep this from happening. We would also wire in a Ford Starting solenoid to act as a relay, with the key activating the Ford Solenoid, which would then connect the battery power to the starter. This always solved the problem on those Pontiacs.
Am I thinking correctly that this problem can be cured by replacing the starter with a new one? OR, is there something I should do to make this system a little more robust and maybe wire in the Ford Solenoid and go that route? Are dual starting batteries necessary?
Finally, are there options on starters? Is there one that I should be looking at getting.
The bottom line is that I HATE having troubles on the water, and am willing to do some work, and put out some reasonable $$$, to make sure that we can have trouble free days on the boat.
If you have any recommendations, I'd appreciate hearing them. I'd like to get the parts this week so I can get this done before summer is over.
Thanks!
It is setup with dual batteries: One starting battery (850cca) and one deep cycle house battery, both wired to a standard dual battery switch with 1-both-2 (starting battery is wired to 2, house to 1).
I normally turn the switch to 2 and start the motor. It turns over OK... sounds a tad slow to me, but turns over and starts fine when cold.
However, once the motor is warm, whether on the trailer or in the water, the starter barely turns over, almost to the point of NOT turning over. I let it cool down some with the blower fan on, and it'll eventually turn over fast enough to get the motor started.
The battery wiring is all very fresh and I've cleaned and corrosion protected all the terminals. Starting battery is new, the house battery is older but still has some life in it. I don't tie them together normally.
I'm suspecting that the Armature is absorbing the heat and swelling, but I thought I'd run it by those here with more experience with boats.
On my older Pontiacs with headers, we used to paint the starters flat white and it would actually keep this from happening. We would also wire in a Ford Starting solenoid to act as a relay, with the key activating the Ford Solenoid, which would then connect the battery power to the starter. This always solved the problem on those Pontiacs.
Am I thinking correctly that this problem can be cured by replacing the starter with a new one? OR, is there something I should do to make this system a little more robust and maybe wire in the Ford Solenoid and go that route? Are dual starting batteries necessary?
Finally, are there options on starters? Is there one that I should be looking at getting.
The bottom line is that I HATE having troubles on the water, and am willing to do some work, and put out some reasonable $$$, to make sure that we can have trouble free days on the boat.
If you have any recommendations, I'd appreciate hearing them. I'd like to get the parts this week so I can get this done before summer is over.
Thanks!
