Volvo 2030 Hard Start Issue

[DRS]

I have a cat with 2 Volvo 2030's one starts fine and the other will be hard to start peiodically. I've changed the glow plug solenoid and wiring and thought we had it beat but its back. I've just had the valves set and that had no effect. Runs fine when it starts and it will start easily with a shot of either.
I welcome any and all ideas

[Chief Engineer]

Rule #1 Never use ether with a glowstart engine.

Rule #2 Ether damages the rings.

Rule #3 Ether does NOT belong on a boat

Time for a compression/leakdown test.

[gstraub]

Have a 2040 on our boat and ours was doing the exact same thing. The relay for the glow plugs was intermittent. Sounds like you may have already been down that road, but if you haven't done it, I would put a voltmeter on the glow plug rail and have someone push the switch to verify that you do have voltage on the plugs. Maybe measure the resistance of the plugs as well.

Gerhard

[Lowesmarine]

Sounds like a bad glowplug, Does the engine have more white smoke from the exhaust on startup. If so this will usually indicate a faulty Glowplug. Remove the contact bar between the Glowplugs and measure the resistance between the screw terminal or the glowplug and the body or to the cylinder head. resistance is usually around 0.2 - 0.8 ohms. If this is good, then Leak-down / compression test, lazy starter motor / voltage drop. Regards David

[Seahunter]

Hydro-locked?

[never monday]

Originally Posted by Chief Engineer

Rule #1 Never use ether with a glowstart engine.

Rule #2 Ether damages the rings.

Rule #3 Ether does NOT belong on a boat

Time for a compression/leakdown test.

what ^he said

[Sailmonkey]

Congratulations........you've made a bouncing green ETHER BABY

[DRS]

Thank you all for your replies. I have to ask though what's the issue with the proper use of a small amout of staring fluid (either)? I come from the heavy equipment side of things and this is common practice. I have heard all kinds of people talk about how it will "blow and engine up" but have yet to see that occur even once or hear of a verified instance when it has. What am I missing?

[Chief Engineer]

Common Practice on Heavy equipment doesn't equate to correct practice. No Offense

I worked for a tug maintanance company, re built a lot of 6-71 or 4-71 that were ether-holics because the operators were impatient

Would you squirt ether into a toaster? Have you ever seen a glow plug glow?
It gets as red as the element on an electric stove.

[djmarchand]

Hard starting can have several causes: low compression, low ambient temperature (or bad glow plug) and poor injector pattern. If one of the three is really bad, it will be difficult to start. If two or three are marginally bad, it can also be difficult to start.

In my case I have a cat with two Yanmar 3gm30f engines. I had exactly the same symptom as you describe. Although that engine doesn't have a glow plug, low ambient temps made it harder to start.

I replaced the injectors to improve one of the three factors and it made a huge difference. After a few hundred hours the hard starting returned, but running the engine at high rpm for a few hours cleaned the injectors up and it starts easily now.

So look at your glow plugs and your injectors, two things that you can easily fix.

Low compression manifests itself with blowby that can be easily checked. But fixing it is expensive.

David

[DRS]

No offense taken Chief. Just looking for open discussion. Ether is so common on heavy equipment its actually available as a factory installed option. Auto ignition point of ether is about 350F. I have no idea what the surface temp of a glow plug would be. If and when I use it a small amount of ether is sprayed on a rag and the rag placed on the air filter so that intake air is drawn accross it as opposed to spraying directly into the intake. I have never had a bad experience with it and believe it it easier on the equipment than constant cranking.

ps. it works really well for getting grease out of clothing too

[DRS]

DJ. No blow by issues which leads me to believe its not compression related

Sea hunter. Runs great once started so I don't think its hydro locked

Lowes Marine. I'll throw a meter on it and check it out.

Thanks and keep the ideas coming. Its all appreciated

[Chief Engineer]

Well at least your not blasting it into the intake.....

and I have seen the "Aero-Start" on Perkins engines......

When they refer to "cold start" they are talking aboot ambient temperatures that none but the bravest would sail in....that is if we could get out of the ice. HAHAHA

But most lumpkins put it into the intake and wonder why ther is that godawful banging......It is because the ether cooks off before the engine gets to TDC IIRC

[Laidback]

I had a Mercedes diesel engined car, started a new job - one the perks was that the company provided free fuel. Requested the driver to fill her up - they did with gasoline (petrol)
At the end of the day got into my car to drive home - no more than half a mile BANG !!** !! Clattterr!!!\
The engine's pistons, conrods, valves and other bits and pieces now useless.
The Diesel relies on compression to ignite diesel/air mixture. If you think that providing a little ether or gasoline to a sailboat's marine engine is a good idea - there may be surprising consequences

[Sunspot Baby]

Everyone seems to have jumped on major engine problems or the down side of starting sprays.

Let's look at a couple of other possibilities.

Does she crank over well? If you have a dedicated starting battery that is down on power, she may just not be cranking fast enough to start well.

Any chance you're having trouble getting fuel into her? Maybe there is an air leak that takes some time to work itself out as you crank. Maybe some blockage in the fuel line, a clogged filter perhaps.

Check the simple stuff first.

Maybe you have done all these things, but I didn't pick it up in your post.

George