starting problems solved

[Al Smith]

I thought that this might save some owners a little time and a lot of money so I thought that I'd post it.

I'd been having an irritating, intermittent starting problem on my 33. The glow plug seemed to warm things up well, but the starter wouldn't always engage. No clicking, grunting, squealing, just silence. After a few frustrating tries (this usually occurred whenever I'd cockily waited until the last minute to start the diesel and there were a lot of hard things near me) it would start, except for one time. The ammeter would deflect when I hit the glow plug and would again deflect when I hit the start button, but there was silence. Anyway, the solenoid was replaced but since the problem was intermittent I didn't know whether or not the problem was corrected. It wasn't, and we had a week trip planned to start that day, so I started it by jumping the solenoid. This is fine if you have someone there to hold in the glow plug button and you are not in heavy seas, but I like to single hand a lot. So I wired up the solenoid directly to the starter button and it works great. I don't know why Universal ever set it up through the two wire harnesses in the first place, and I heartily suggest that owners do as I did before they are inconvenienced or spend a lot of money . It's a tough thing to diagnose since it is so intermittent, and I was quoted $900.00 just for a starter if it needed to be replaced!!

Anyway, for what it is worth...

Al



saylr@adelphia.net

[len]

al

did you set it up so you don't have to hold the glow plug button when pushing the start button? - someone, i think tomcambria, posted that last year and i've had zero starting problems since

len



md.frel@nwh.org

[Al Levesque]

I thought that this might save some owners a little time and a lot of money so I thought that I'd post it.

I'd been having an irritating, intermittent starting problem on my 33. The glow plug seemed to warm things up well, but the starter wouldn't always engage...

Does that mean you had to hold the glow plug on while cranking the engine? The problem then would have been in the series connection?

Our CD33 has the glow plug entirely separate from the starter and I think the engine manual speaks of it the same way. We energize the glow plugs for awhile then release and then crank the starter. Is that what you changed to?

Thanks for any clarification.

Another Al



albertlevesque@cove.com

[len]

al

the CD 31 was wired so you had to hold the glow plug while pressing the starter button but is easily rewired - several of us had a problem with the original system

len



md.frel@nwh.org

[Boyd]

I had the same kind of starting problem in my Westerbeke 21A. Drove me nuts. I would start it with a screwdriver while someone held down the preheat button. After having the starter rebuilt by two other shops I finally took it to Westerbeke. They did a complete rebuild. The problem was a bad winding in the armature. If it stopped at the bad spot...no joy.

A good rebuild should not cost anywhere near the cost of a new one. I would think about $200 is what I paid.. the new one was $500.00

Boyd

I thought that this might save some owners a little time and a lot of money so I thought that I'd post it.

I'd been having an irritating, intermittent starting problem on my 33. The glow plug seemed to warm things up well, but the starter wouldn't always engage. No clicking, grunting, squealing, just silence. After a few frustrating tries (this usually occurred whenever I'd cockily waited until the last minute to start the diesel and there were a lot of hard things near me) it would start, except for one time. The ammeter would deflect when I hit the glow plug and would again deflect when I hit the start button, but there was silence. Anyway, the solenoid was replaced but since the problem was intermittent I didn't know whether or not the problem was corrected. It wasn't, and we had a week trip planned to start that day, so I started it by jumping the solenoid. This is fine if you have someone there to hold in the glow plug button and you are not in heavy seas, but I like to single hand a lot. So I wired up the solenoid directly to the starter button and it works great. I don't know why Universal ever set it up through the two wire harnesses in the first place, and I heartily suggest that owners do as I did before they are inconvenienced or spend a lot of money . It's a tough thing to diagnose since it is so intermittent, and I was quoted $900.00 just for a starter if it needed to be replaced!!

Anyway, for what it is worth...

Al

Boyd@wbta.cc

[Al Smith]

At first i thought that I might also have a bad winding, but when the new wiring worked so well I discounted that idea. Still, it is an 18 year old starter, but supposedly, the repair shop gave the starter a clean bill of health.

Al



saylr@adelphia.net