1986 Cat 3208, in Trawler

[twinboat]

A friend has the above engine and just told me that when the yard disconnects the negative, start battery cable, the engine starts cranking. Don't know if the pos. cable was still on.

I haven't witnessed this but the owner says it has happened before.

It has 2 house batteries on an A/B switch and an independent genset battery.

I will get more info in a few days. I know it's weird but any guess's what's going on.

[Capt Phil]

My guess would be that you have a common ground with your house bank that is grounding through your engine somehow and by disconnecting the starting negative, you will find your house bank capable of cranking your engine without the starter bank connected. Just a half ass guess on my part without seeing the system hookup. Phil