Perkins Diesel questions - starter?

[chowdan]

Hey everyone,

I found a nice bristol 27 for sale with transferrable slip, the boat currently has a Perkins Diesel in it, however the condition is "unknown" stated by the owner. He slapped a 15hp merc on the back and called it good.

He states that when turning the key, it just 'clicks'. I'm trying to setup a time to view the boat this week and was curious on people's experiences with diesels.

I know its hard to say what's wrong without seeing it in person and fiddling with it, but my diesel experience is purely with generators ranging from 1kva to 75kva. Being raised in fiji, we strictly ran diesel at the resort and homes to provide power, while a majority of our boats ran outboards.

Between the maintenance of the outboards and generators three thoughts come to mind, a dead starter, poor battery(or connections), or a seized engine.

My guess(and hope) would be one of the first two.

Anyone have any other ideas?