3GM30 - No Power ?

[akio.kanemoto]

Greetings Folks,

Well, what started out today - a day which was going to be a celebration - starting the engine for the first time in ages, turned into a nightmare.

With everything back together and exhaust, raw water, fuel etc all plumbed.. I started to bleed the fuel lines using my trusty 12V purolator fuel pump... "click".. oops, in my rush, +ve and -ve back to front... minus one fuel pump. :\

After using the manual cam for what seemed like 3 hours, time to kick it over..

All was going well and it was making the appopriate sounds of a diesel about to start, but after about 3-4 starting attempts at no more than 3-5 seconds each time with a short break in between each attempt - suddenly, there was a "click click click" sound... from that point, the engine control panel went dead, the starter didn't move.. nothing.

Battery is fine. All cabling to/from the battery is fine.

Yet the panel doesn't beep when in the "on" position and definitely doesn't do anything when key is turned to "start" position.

Any ideas? Please help before I do something stupid...

Thank you!

[Laidback]

#1 Starter Bendix jammed - If you can get a wrench (spanner) onto the crank shaft pulley nut -- with power off , then try turning the crankshaft a little in ether direction - It may free the bendix from the flywheel ring gear.

#2 Starter solenoid malfunction - try normal start, listen for click - clunk - if no sound - remove solenoid take to auto shop for test.

[cal40john]

There's a 30 amp inline fuse in the wiring harness. Check that.

John

[akio.kanemoto]

Thanks for the quick replies!

OK, firstly, I turned the crankshaft pulley by hand, tried again, no joy. So I don't think it's anything mechanical that's jammed.

Also - checked the inline fuse too - OK too.

On the solenoid front - if it was bad, it wouldn't click, but then again - the panel would still have power right? Normally, when ignition is on, but engine is not yet started, the panel has a buzzer and a red light for oil pressure etc - but even that's non-existent at the moment.

[cal40john]

Got a voltmeter? Or a 12 volt light bulb with some wire leads? See where the electricity is and isn't.

John

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by cal40john

Got a voltmeter? Or a 12 volt light bulb with some wire leads? See where the electricity is and isn't.
John

Well put.

[smurphny]

Be careful with these engines. If you crank it enough, you will suck water into the cylinders! This can cause rods to bend. You have to pull the injectors, crank out the water, change the oil a couple of times....a major PITA. I always disconnect the exhaust elbow water supply if cranking more than a few seconds.

[Eric M]

The volt meter is a good suggestion. One more place to check is for a safety switch on your gear shift lever. When in gear, there is a switch which opens and then there is no power to the panel on my Yanmar 3GM30.

[SKI]

Maybe an obvious suggestion but check the ignition switch there usually cheap parts and i can't imagine a salt water enviroment doing them any good. Maybe all the use got something in there hot that would explain the panel going dead.

[four winds]

Originally Posted by Eric M

The volt meter is a good suggestion. One more place to check is for a safety switch on your gear shift lever. When in gear, there is a switch which opens and then there is no power to the panel on my Yanmar 3GM30.

I don't have this safety interlock on my Yanmar 3gm.

Where is it located on yours?

[akio.kanemoto]

Howdy,

OK, the good news is that it's fixed! Yaay!!

Thank you for the advice - in the end, I crawled around with a multimeter and eventually found out that what I had thought was originally a single cable (hence my confidence that the cabling was continuous.. and hence ok)... was actually terminated at a huge bus bar.. and the nut wasn't done up.. hence no power.

Thanks again!