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Lochnevis

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    Lochnevis

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  1. The fuse has been removed. Troubleshooting the alternator is going to have to wait for the weekend, but the new battery was given a good charge from the solar. Though if the alternator is broken in a way that is actually discharging the battery (is that possible?), I guess the battery voltage might now be low (it's had ~4 hours running since I changed the heater plugs). I'll check the resting voltage when I'm back on the boat.
  2. Moving the boat today, it does seem to struggle to turn over, but then goes after a few seconds (<5 seconds). This applies even when warm - as the engine needs to be turned off in Thames locks, I had a chance to test a few times! The starting is now what I would consider absolutely fine, but as it didn't used to do this, I'm now a little worried that there's an underlying problem which I shouldn't ignore (or that I've knackered the starter motor a bit with the repeated long cranking attempts!). Does anyone have any words of wisdom?
  3. Well, the new heater plugs turned up yesterday. I fitted them this morning, and it started! The starting isn't quite as good as it was when I got the boat (when it didn't need any time on the heater plugs, and fired straight away), but it only needed a couple of seconds (after ~15 seconds of the heater plugs). So, problem solved, thanks again all! I'll take Tony's advice and leave the rocker cover where it is, though I am tempted by the the idea of getting a compression tester, as suggested by Scholar Gypsy (mostly because I love a good gadget...). A very quick check of the battery voltage suggests that the alternator and/or wiring are in trouble, though (13V at the battery terminals, after giving the battery a good charge on solar charger), but further investigation of that will have to wait until the weekend.
  4. I've taken out the heater plugs and tested them across a battery - and three of them seem to be dead. So hopefully I've finally gotten to the bottom of the problem, with lots of help from the forum! I've ordered replacements, and I'll report back once they're fitted. In the meantime, I'll get myself a feeler gauge to check the valve clearance, and enjoy the fact that there are many worse places to be broken down than the water meadow in Abingdon, especially in this weather! Then I may well be back with questions about how to troubleshoot my alternator, assuming the low charging voltage doesn't turn out to be a wiring issue, and if forum searches come up blank. Thanks all for the help and friendly advice; I'd have been utterly baffled without you. I will investigate if I've posted enough or whatever to sprinkle some greenies around.
  5. Don't worry - no verbal slapping: been there, done that... Hand-hauling out of a Thames lock for 30 minutes of troubleshooting (with the lock keeper looking on), to eventually realise that my crew hadn't pushed the toggle back in, and I hadn't thought to check it, was a little embarrassing. [Forewarned by that experience, I checked the lever on the engine itself, in case of cable snags, as you suggest].
  6. Plenty of fuel is definitely getting into the engine - clouds of diesel come out of the exhaust (very much "smoke" with inverted commas, as you put it - I can taste the diesel), though it does sound like Dr. Bob's engine was getting fuel too (he says that he checked "fuel being delivered"). I guess I'll give the fuel system a thorough check first (especially the new connections), as that should be fairly quick and easy - then I'll tackle the heater plugs (I don't expect removing them to be either quick or easy!). I have no idea how to go about checking valve clearances - any pointers/useful YouTube videos anyone could direct me to (I have a copy of the workshop manual somewhere) - or should I get in someone who knows what they're doing at that point?
  7. Thanks Dr Bob. The symptoms sound remarkably similar, and I had a new fuel tank fitted in the spring, so maybe one of the new connections is dodgy. It would never have occurred to me that a cracked hose/union could result in a starting problem, but then the engine running fine, so I haven't looked nearly as hard as I would have if I wasn't sure that fuel was getting to the engine. I will now!
  8. It was one of these, a Bussmann MRBF-150 (I hope the picture works - my first attempt at posting a picture here). I fitted it when rewiring my domestic system prior to boat safety. I had intended to fuse only the domestic battery, but I ended up with two of them when I stuffed up an order, so tried it out on the starter, and it worked (to my surprise - I'd assumed I'd need a larger fuse); then it worked for over a year, including the winter months. I've just looked at the datasheet, and it's interrupt time at 200% is 60 seconds, which may be why it was working.
  9. @Boater Sam mentioned them, but I haven't checked them out. I'll make it the first thing I look at tomorrow. Is %0 amps a typo for 50 amps? What strikes me as odd if how suddenly this problem came on - it was starting fine, I didn't move the boat for 2 days, then it was very hard to start (blowing the 150A fuse I mentioned, and taking several attempts). And it's been like that ever since. The weather didn't change much in the 2 days I didn't move the boat, so I guess something else did...
  10. At the battery terminals. I'll post the voltage direct from the alternator tomorrow (if I can start the engine!).
  11. Update: I went and bought a new starter battery this morning (same size as before, a 644). The starter battery was definitely knackered, but it seems that there's an underlying problem. I'm now back to where I was a couple of weeks ago - it takes several attempts to start: four times cranking ~30 seconds. After a while (on the 4th attempt, for most of the time) the engine sounds like it's about to fire, but keeps not quite managing it. I couldn't swear that the starter is turning over as fast as it used to, but it doesn't sound unusually slow or otherwise wrong (and it's turning over much faster than it was yesterday, with the old battery). It looks like there is definitely something up with either the alternator or some related piece of wiring, as the charging voltage from the alternator was still very low (12.6V, not the 12.7V I said above). Unfortunately I didn't have time to move the boat today (so I've left the starter hooked up to the solar charger+domestics to make sure it gets a proper recharge.
  12. The starter battery isn't monitored (except when it stops working and I stick a multimeter on it!). The domestics (2* T105 Trojans) are on a Smartgauge. According to the Smartgauge, the batteries generally cycle between around 70 and 100%. From November-January, they start to drop below 70%, and generally at around 60% I start to panic, and stop using anything apart from pumps and lights. I may well spend more time in the pub in winter... I don't think they've ever shown below 50%. As for voltage, I can't remember what the lower end is, but they are usually around 12.9-12.95V fully charged under light load (just after dark at the end of a sunny day, with a few LED lights on, in other words). Mind you, I might have jinxed myself saying they were in good condition - I just checked the water, and they were very, very low indeed. Which is odd, because in the last 4 years, they've needed only very occasional and slight topping up. I don't think it's longer than usual since they were checked, but maybe I've got a bit careless with them. Or maybe something else has changed (I do have a new fridge, but the batteries didn't seem to be discharging quicker, so I don't think it's drawing anything crazy.
  13. I turn the fridge off when the solar can't keep up, usually around the end of October. Other than that, LED lights, and all 12v (no inverter) - so pretty low power usage.
  14. The Trojans charge from an MPPT solar charger, and aren't connected to the alternator - I've got 500W of solar panels, so have never needed to connect them to the alternator charging circuit (or at least not often enough to have actually got around to it!). There is indeed - I changed it, too, though. It's an awkward sod to change, as it's been mounted vertically, cap end down (do these things need to be a particular way up?!) No, the problem started a few weeks ago, in that it was suddenly much harder to start the boat, but it was only today it completely refused. The filters were changed when the problem started, and the engine has been running fine (once going). So I hope it's just the one (probably battery) problem. Thanks everyone for all of the help! I'll try jump starting from the domestics in the morning, and assuming that does the trick, I'll go and get myself a new starter battery. Then I suppose I'll start trying to troubleshoot the low charging voltage (assuming it is still low, rather than being caused by a problem with the battery)...
  15. I'll give it a shot when I'm back at the boat. I hadn't because I wasn't sure if doing so would knacker my domestics (which are Trojans in very good nick, so I was being ultra-cautious). I assume that just doing this once or twice won't do them much/any harm, then?
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