Engine won't start

[oggie]

Hi all,

 

I have a bit of a problem starting my Isuzi 42hp engine.

 

I went to the boat over the weekend to check that all was ok after the winter. The boat has sat idle since the end of Sept last year but was absolutely fine when last used. I checked the voltage meters on board and was suprised to see that the starter and domestic bank were both showing well over 12 volts so thought all would be ok when I tried to start it. How wrong was I, the buzzer came on when I turned the key but a lot quieter than usual and the volt meter crept over to just under the 12 volts. Needless to say when I tried to start the engine it would not even turn over.

 

Not a problem I thought, Ive been a motorist for almost 50 years and worked around boats for many a year also. So I borrowed a fully charged battery from my son,which had come off his 2.2ltr Deisel car, put the jump leads across expecting everything to wake up but symptoms stayed exacxtly the same, it started to turn over for maybe half a second or so then seem to lose all power and just got a continual clicking from the starter moror. I thought I must have borrowed a duff battery.

 

I needed a new battery for my caravan so bought a new 110amp hr battery put it on charge over night to make sure it was fully charged took that to the boat and again it tried to start but wouldn't, even with fully charged batteries conected via jump leads it is as if the battery is flat ie the volt meter goes slowly to the 12 volt area where before it used to shoot up and the buzzer is a lot quieter than usual. I even took the battery off my 2.0 ltr deisel car and tried that but still nothing.

 

I have removed and cleaned the earth on the engine also done the same to the live on the starter motor, checked all the connections and all seem to be ok.

 

The jump leads are not the thickest Ive seen but will happily start a car, the batteries on board are the original ones making them almost 5 yrs old, but they are showing as having plenty of volts. I even connected a charger to the starter battery and after less than an hour came up as being fully charged. In desperation I even took the control panel off to see if there was any loose connectios or corrosion but everything was fine.

 

I am running out of idea's fast, I am happy to replace the starter battery and any others if they need to be changed but would like to be sure that is the problem before I do.

 

Any idea's or help from anyone out there especially anyone who has had the same problem would be most appreciated.

 

Thank you in advance

 

Bob.

[bottle]

I may have missed this or you have already done it.

 

cleaned and refitted the battery terminals.

[blodger]

I may have missed this or you have already done it.

 

cleaned and refitted the battery terminals.

Have you tried jumping the starter/solenoid as it may be damp in the contacts when the solenoid jumps forward and also engages the pinion.

[cotswoldsman]

In my case when i had the same problem it was the ignition switch that was causing the problem it was caused by damp and yes I have the same engine as you mine is a cruiser style and the ignition switch is outside.

[oggie]

In my case when i had the same problem it was the ignition switch that was causing the problem it was caused by damp and yes I have the same engine as you mine is a cruiser style and the ignition switch is outside.

 

Thanks John, mine is also a cruiser stern. How did you solve the problem?

 

Bob

[cotswoldsman]

Thanks John, mine is also a cruiser stern. How did you solve the problem?

 

Bob

 

Take it out and clean all the connections to start with if that does not do it then it might need a new ignition switch, but I am no expert.

[oggie]

Have you tried jumping the starter/solenoid as it may be damp in the contacts when the solenoid jumps forward and also engages the pinion.

 

I have taken the jump lbut leads diectly to the earth on the engine and also to the live on the starter motor effectively by passing the battery and its terminals but still get the same symptoms.

 

Thanks

 

Bob

[Eeyore]

Hi all,

 

I have a bit of a problem starting my Isuzi 42hp engine.

 

I went to the boat over the weekend to check that all was ok after the winter. The boat has sat idle since the end of Sept last year but was absolutely fine when last used. I checked the voltage meters on board and was suprised to see that the starter and domestic bank were both showing well over 12 volts so thought all would be ok when I tried to start it. How wrong was I, the buzzer came on when I turned the key but a lot quieter than usual and the volt meter crept over to just under the 12 volts. Needless to say when I tried to start the engine it would not even turn over.

 

Not a problem I thought, Ive been a motorist for almost 50 years and worked around boats for many a year also. So I borrowed a fully charged battery from my son,which had come off his 2.2ltr Deisel car, put the jump leads across expecting everything to wake up but symptoms stayed exacxtly the same, it started to turn over for maybe half a second or so then seem to lose all power and just got a continual clicking from the starter moror. I thought I must have borrowed a duff battery.

 

I needed a new battery for my caravan so bought a new 110amp hr battery put it on charge over night to make sure it was fully charged took that to the boat and again it tried to start but wouldn't, even with fully charged batteries conected via jump leads it is as if the battery is flat ie the volt meter goes slowly to the 12 volt area where before it used to shoot up and the buzzer is a lot quieter than usual. I even took the battery off my 2.0 ltr deisel car and tried that but still nothing.

 

I have removed and cleaned the earth on the engine also done the same to the live on the starter motor, checked all the connections and all seem to be ok.

 

The jump leads are not the thickest Ive seen but will happily start a car, the batteries on board are the original ones making them almost 5 yrs old, but they are showing as having plenty of volts. I even connected a charger to the starter battery and after less than an hour came up as being fully charged. In desperation I even took the control panel off to see if there was any loose connectios or corrosion but everything was fine.

 

I am running out of idea's fast, I am happy to replace the starter battery and any others if they need to be changed but would like to be sure that is the problem before I do.

 

Any idea's or help from anyone out there especially anyone who has had the same problem would be most appreciated.

 

Thank you in advance

 

Bob.

Hello Bob

Hope I'm reading this correctly.

You still have the original dead starter battery installed, and are trying to jump start with leads from a good battery?

Have you tried installing the new battery in place of the old one? I appreciate that its a heavy job; but it has to be the first thing to try given that the symptoms point to a failed battery.

Steve

[Chris Pink]

Any idea's or help from anyone out there especially anyone who has had the same problem would be most appreciated.

 

Thank you in advance

 

Bob.

 

You'll be lucky to get enough power through cheap jump leads without another engine running to back it up, that's the usual way with jumping a car.

 

As has been said, remove the old start battery, put the brand new one on, job done, should start.

 

As background; it is well possibly for a battery near the end of its life left standing to read a good voltage but not have any guts when needed. The buzzer weakening while the glow plugs are on is the indicator for this.

Edited February 21, 2012 by Chris Pink

[dor]

Don't know if it is the same on an Isuzu, but on a Vetus there is a relay to power the starter solenoid. It is prone to getting flaky. Solution is to hit the relay. If that doesn't work, bypass it by using a small jumper wire directly onto the starter solenoid connection. The Vetus relay is a small black box and you can get a replacement from Motorworld for a few pounds.

[WotEver]

Don't know if it is the same on an Isuzu, but on a Vetus there is a relay to power the starter solenoid. It is prone to getting flaky. Solution is to hit the relay.

I like those kind of solutions

 

Another possibility if there's a relay involved, is that the isolator contacts are dirty. I had identical symptoms to the OP some years ago and eventually tracked it down to the crappy isolator switch. Several thumps on that got it all working again.

 

Tony

[Eeyore]

I like those kind of solutions

 

Another possibility if there's a relay involved, is that the isolator contacts are dirty. I had identical symptoms to the OP some years ago and eventually tracked it down to the crappy isolator switch. Several thumps on that got it all working again.

 

Tony

The correct technical term is "percussive maintenance"

[bizzard]

Your jump leads are in my opinion the most suspect,firstly.

[oggie]

Hello Bob

Hope I'm reading this correctly.

You still have the original dead starter battery installed, and are trying to jump start with leads from a good battery?

Have you tried installing the new battery in place of the old one? I appreciate that its a heavy job; but it has to be the first thing to try given that the symptoms point to a failed battery.

Steve

Hi Steve, quite correct, like you say its a big job to remove the old starter battery as its last in line of 5. I have to remove 4x135 amp hr leisure batteries to get to the starter battery.

I have tried to bypass the old starter by connecting jump leads to the live side of the isolator switch and the negative to the earth on the engine block.

Would the old battery still cause a problem?

 

thankyou

 

Bob

[Chris Pink]

Hi Steve, quite correct, like you say its a big job to remove the old starter battery as its last in line of 5. I have to remove 4x135 amp hr leisure batteries to get to the starter battery.

I have tried to bypass the old starter by connecting jump leads to the live side of the isolator switch and the negative to the earth on the engine block.

Would the old battery still cause a problem?

 

thankyou

 

Bob

 

Yes.

 

You are going to have to do it. it's knackered.

 

Like Bizzard says your jump leads don't sound very good.

Edited February 21, 2012 by Chris Pink

[RLWP]

Hi Steve, quite correct, like you say its a big job to remove the old starter battery as its last in line of 5. I have to remove 4x135 amp hr leisure batteries to get to the starter battery.

 

thankyou

 

Bob

 

Out of interest, did you try jump starting using the domestic battery bank? We've got out of a problem several times like that

 

Richard

[bizzard]

Even if your jump leads are small cheap ones you should get a bit of a response with them.Check that the cables are making good connection where they connect to the crocodile clamps ''the usual fault''.I personally would connect them to a known good charged battery and sharply and quickly brush the two of the free ends together and a strong flash of sparks will be emitted.I've mentioned crude quick tests like this before on here and been called all manner of dangerous lunatics for suggesting it by the cowards and wimps and rightly so i suppose,hey ho,so don't do it.

However if your certain that your jump leads are conductive from crocodile teeth to crocodile teeth on both cables a couple of simple starter motor tests can be carried out,providing you can get to the back of the starter motor where the terminals are. ''Can you''?,before i waste my time explaining.

[steelaway]

Hi all,

 

I have a bit of a problem starting my Isuzi 42hp engine.

 

I went to the boat over the weekend to check that all was ok after the winter. The boat has sat idle since the end of Sept last year but was absolutely fine when last used. I checked the voltage meters on board and was suprised to see that the starter and domestic bank were both showing well over 12 volts so thought all would be ok when I tried to start it. How wrong was I, the buzzer came on when I turned the key but a lot quieter than usual and the volt meter crept over to just under the 12 volts. Needless to say when I tried to start the engine it would not even turn over.

 

Not a problem I thought, Ive been a motorist for almost 50 years and worked around boats for many a year also. So I borrowed a fully charged battery from my son,which had come off his 2.2ltr Deisel car, put the jump leads across expecting everything to wake up but symptoms stayed exacxtly the same, it started to turn over for maybe half a second or so then seem to lose all power and just got a continual clicking from the starter moror. I thought I must have borrowed a duff battery.

 

I needed a new battery for my caravan so bought a new 110amp hr battery put it on charge over night to make sure it was fully charged took that to the boat and again it tried to start but wouldn't, even with fully charged batteries conected via jump leads it is as if the battery is flat ie the volt meter goes slowly to the 12 volt area where before it used to shoot up and the buzzer is a lot quieter than usual. I even took the battery off my 2.0 ltr deisel car and tried that but still nothing.

 

I have removed and cleaned the earth on the engine also done the same to the live on the starter motor, checked all the connections and all seem to be ok.

 

The jump leads are not the thickest Ive seen but will happily start a car, the batteries on board are the original ones making them almost 5 yrs old, but they are showing as having plenty of volts. I even connected a charger to the starter battery and after less than an hour came up as being fully charged. In desperation I even took the control panel off to see if there was any loose connectios or corrosion but everything was fine.

 

I am running out of idea's fast, I am happy to replace the starter battery and any others if they need to be changed but would like to be sure that is the problem before I do.

 

Any idea's or help from anyone out there especially anyone who has had the same problem would be most appreciated.

 

Thank you in advance

 

Bob.

 

 

 

Five year old battery's are going to be knacked, even if you have plenty of volts. It's not a true test, they need to be put on load by a battery 'Load Tester'

If the starter solenoid is faulty it will not make the contact necessaries to the starter motor - that's the click you can hear. If the solenoid is working and if the battery isn't fully charged then it still wont turn the engine. It sound like the key is OK if you are hearing the buzzer and a click from the solenoid.

 

 

Alex

[oggie]

Out of interest, did you try jump starting using the domestic battery bank? We've got out of a problem several times like that

 

Richard

 

Hi Richard, Yes I did try that but still had the same symptoms, think I'm going to have to remove the whole bank test and replace the dud ones, as I said they are all original and very close to 5 yrs old.

 

Bob

 

Even if your jump leads are small cheap ones you should get a bit of a response with them.Check that the cables are making good connection where they connect to the crocodile clamps ''the usual fault''.I personally would connect them to a known good charged battery and sharply and quickly brush the two of the free ends together and a strong flash of sparks will be emitted.I've mentioned crude quick tests like this before on here and been called all manner of dangerous lunatics for suggesting it by the cowards and wimps and rightly so i suppose,hey ho,so don't do it.

However if your certain that your jump leads are conductive from crocodile teeth to crocodile teeth on both cables a couple of simple starter motor tests can be carried out,providing you can get to the back of the starter motor where the terminals are. ''Can you''?,before i waste my time explaining.

 

The starter motor appears to be sealed. The only connection I can see is where the heavy live cable is bolted to it.

 

Bob

[Phil Ambrose]

Take it out and clean all the connections to start with if that does not do it then it might need a new ignition switch, but I am no expert.

 

W.D.40

 

Phil

[Arthur Brown]

Fit the borrowed starter battery and see whether it will start the engine using the correct circuit.

Take the starter battery home for a full charge.

Take all the batteries home for a charge.

 

It's likely that the batteries being five years old are too far past their prime. If you fit the best available starter battery then you MAY possibly start the engine and charge the other batteries. Expect to put 500 amphours into your batteries thats ten hours at 50 amps! or til they are full.

 

Worst case new batteries all round.

[Geoff Taylor]

Hi,I agree with Bizzard and Chris on this one regarding jump lead size. I made a good standby single jump lead out of battery cable as a back up in case of a problem and have had to use it once by connecting the positive to leisure pack and pos to starter battery (no neg required)engine spun over fast enough to start no problem. The only other thing that maybe causing a problem is the failure of the contacts in the battery master switch,join wires to one side of it for a quick check. A Winter with it in the off position may have led to the furring up of the contactors.

[oggie]

Hi all,

 

I have a bit of a problem starting my Isuzi 42hp engine.

 

I went to the boat over the weekend to check that all was ok after the winter. The boat has sat idle since the end of Sept last year but was absolutely fine when last used. I checked the voltage meters on board and was suprised to see that the starter and domestic bank were both showing well over 12 volts so thought all would be ok when I tried to start it. How wrong was I, the buzzer came on when I turned the key but a lot quieter than usual and the volt meter crept over to just under the 12 volts. Needless to say when I tried to start the engine it would not even turn over.

 

Not a problem I thought, Ive been a motorist for almost 50 years and worked around boats for many a year also. So I borrowed a fully charged battery from my son,which had come off his 2.2ltr Deisel car, put the jump leads across expecting everything to wake up but symptoms stayed exacxtly the same, it started to turn over for maybe half a second or so then seem to lose all power and just got a continual clicking from the starter moror. I thought I must have borrowed a duff battery.

 

I needed a new battery for my caravan so bought a new 110amp hr battery put it on charge over night to make sure it was fully charged took that to the boat and again it tried to start but wouldn't, even with fully charged batteries conected via jump leads it is as if the battery is flat ie the volt meter goes slowly to the 12 volt area where before it used to shoot up and the buzzer is a lot quieter than usual. I even took the battery off my 2.0 ltr deisel car and tried that but still nothing.

 

I have removed and cleaned the earth on the engine also done the same to the live on the starter motor, checked all the connections and all seem to be ok.

 

The jump leads are not the thickest Ive seen but will happily start a car, the batteries on board are the original ones making them almost 5 yrs old, but they are showing as having plenty of volts. I even connected a charger to the starter battery and after less than an hour came up as being fully charged. In desperation I even took the control panel off to see if there was any loose connectios or corrosion but everything was fine.

 

I am running out of idea's fast, I am happy to replace the starter battery and any others if they need to be changed but would like to be sure that is the problem before I do.

 

Any idea's or help from anyone out there especially anyone who has had the same problem would be most appreciated.

 

Thank you in advance

 

Bob.

 

Many thanks for all your input, when it stops raining I will go to the boat armed with a fully charged new battery, some emery paper, vasline, a hydrometer, a can of WD40 and forearms like Popeye (to move 4 big batteries out of the way). I will hopefully go through all of the suggestions on here and let you know the outcome. Thanks again for your input.

 

One tiny worry, if I start the boat without putting back the leisure batteries, will all be ok as long as I keep all the LB connections out of the way, ie the charge from the LB alternator will having nowhere to go won't cause a problem will it?

 

Thanks again

 

Bob

 

Fit the borrowed starter battery and see whether it will start the engine using the correct circuit.

Take the starter battery home for a full charge.

Take all the batteries home for a charge.

 

It's likely that the batteries being five years old are too far past their prime. If you fit the best available starter battery then you MAY possibly start the engine and charge the other batteries. Expect to put 500 amphours into your batteries thats ten hours at 50 amps! or til they are full.

 

Worst case new batteries all round.

 

many thanks I think its bullet biting time.

[WotEver]

One tiny worry, if I start the boat without putting back the leisure batteries, will all be ok as long as I keep all the LB connections out of the way, ie the charge from the LB alternator will having nowhere to go won't cause a problem will it?

Why not make it simple and just place one LB back in place?

 

Tony

[Thewatchmaker]

W.D.40

 

Phil

 

 

Only good for drying out, nothing else !