Starting Yanmar by Hand

[nial]

Has anyone ever been able to hand start a Yanmar 1GM? Mine starts instantly by battery power but no matter how I hand crank I have never been able to get it started. Are there maybe some tricks I need to learn? I mean the thing comes with a decompression lever and a crank handle so I guess someone somewhere must have thought it possible.
nial

[selkie2]

No! I have never been able to do so. Not even with a buddy to flick the lever. I'm a big bloke and up for most physical challenges but this one defeated me. If there is someone out there who has managed, please let me know the secret as it would be handy.
What I have found the decompression lever useful for is when we have a partially discharged battery - use a combination of battery and decompression to get the engine started when battery alone has not been up to the job.

Regards.

[Philsboat]

I have tried to start mine with no luck.Even extended the part that goes into the engine so I didn't bang my knuckles on the cabinet.I used the decompression lever but couldn't get it over top dead centre under compression.

Phil

[bill good]

PO told me he used the handle as a kick start like a motor bike. I would not try however. It would most likely break a leg!! There must be a way-- otherwise why waist all that money on a start handle!! no never got mine to start either.

[Philsboat]

Kick starting might work with a support for the starting handle shaft.A project!

Phil

[maxingout]

It would work if you head a giant heavy flywheel with lots of momentum mounted on the front of the engine.

When I traveled in the Saudi Desert, I saw men hand start one cylinder diesels much larger than the Yanmar. These diesels were used to pump water from a well.

They would release the compression on the engine, and then start turning the flywheel with a hand crank. They would get the heavy flywheel going at a good rate of speed, and then hit the compression lever, and the engine would start right up. The secret was the heavy flywheel that keeps the engine spinning then you hit the compression lever.

You didn't need to be superman to start the engine because you had the heavy flywheel do the work for you after you got the flywheel spinning.

[Mirar]

Hello, I had a single cylinder 6hp Yanmar as a dc charging source on my last boat. It came without an electric start so I hand cranked it for a few months until I added so many accessories that I could no longer roll it over fast enough to start. Possibly you have too much belt friction to overcome by hand but mine certainly started easy with the decompression lever open,get it rolling fast as possible then close the deco lever. If you have a few belt drven add ons, try releasing the tension on them a bit and give it a go.
Needless to say, my new boat is getting a nice little electric start 13hp Perkins as a genset motor.
greg

[Reefmagnet]

Years ago I worked for a company that made generators with 1 cylinder Lombardini diesels that were started with a bit of rope wrapped around the starting pulley. Feeding the rope around the pulley and giving one hefty pull was only good for dislocating your shoulder - momentum always stopped at the top of the compression stroke. The only way they could be started was to progressively "rock" the pulley back and forth with the rope until finally there was enough rocking motion that the last final (hefty) pull was enough to spin the motor over the top of the compression stroke. The decompression lever was never used. Maybe this same technique could work on the Yanmar? The 1GM10 does remind me an awful lot of those old Lombardinis