Starter Motor issues

[ThePinkPanther]

Hi guys, first up thanks for all the helpful replies, much appreciated!

Things have got much worse in this matter as the guy who did all the work (registered business) has simply refused to come anywhere near the boat and to show his mentality, has told me to bring the boat back to him for repair! Like ummmmm, I cannot start it and it is too big for a trailer that I don't have anyway! But that's another issue .........

OK, here is a summary of what I have done to start this brute!

1. Had both relatively new marine batteries charged and load tested by local auto electrician. Both came up to a healthy 12.75V and I'm getting 11.5V at the salon oud during a start cycle.

2. Purchased a new starter motor. Tried both of them but pinion gear still won't engage.

3. Shorted out +/- terminals on solenoid, no luck.

4. Ran heavy duty jump starter cables direct from battery to solenoid, nope!

5. Turned motor over by hand a zillion times for both starters to connect on a different ring gear position, nope, no help that way!

6. Tried as best I could to peer in at the small part of ring gear though the hole with the starter motor removed, not a sign of damage and all teeth "look OK" though unlikely I would see any excessive wear!

Thing to remember in this saga is that the motor turned and started perfectly before the engine reconditioning and this was with a well used starter motor and batteries almost three years old and not in the top condition the 8 month old ones are in now.

With my hand turning of the motor, I can't believe that the entire ring gear is so worn that both the starters can't engage at all! Tightness from the recon motor can't possibly be causing this problem surely!

I'm buggered now and with this "mechanic" now refusing to help in any way I'm really in a deep, dark hole!

Any ideas much appreciated!

[scottar]

Not sure this is relevant but worth a read.

http://www.bcbroncos.com/ford%20starters.pdf

Might be worth doing more car based research than marine - lot more Ford experience there.

[FNQCairns]

Have you tried pulling all/whatever of the spark plugs to ease compression to see if starter engages properly and spins the motor continuously, without kicking out....may need to also disable the HT lead at the distributor/etc.

Starter motor works perfectly on the ground next to a battery?

Same flywheel as original?....consider measuring from engine starter motor mount machine face to ring gear, then do the equivalent measurement to the starter motor at full bendix kickout just to see.

good luck.

jusy had another quick read.....try another battery connected to the starter motor while fitted to the engine but completely separate from all other boat electrics .

apologies if any has already been mentioned above.

[Jarrah Jack]

Re check the earth wire/ connection on the motor, strange things can happen when its not 100%

[ThePinkPanther]

Sorry for the on again off again posts here guys but it is an ever changing scene with this drama!

i have run high amperage jumper cables from both batteries direct to the starter solenoid but no difference to the problem .......... but ahah, I inserted a small cable camera down the ring aperture in the bell housing and although very difficult to identify, there seems to be "something" under and kind of behind the gear!

Is this possible? I've got no idea of the clearance under the bottom part of the gear but if it is pretty minimal then I guess "something" could get in there and jam the rotation? I can turn the motor over via the front pulley but it does seem to be difficult sometimes, exactly like jamming then releasing?

I find it a bit hard to believe but maybe during the rebuild of the motor, something dropped in there? Please don't tell me it could have been one of the flywheel retaining bolts? Think there are six of them?

Any suggestions appreciated!

Thanks!