Starter Still Sluggish

[charliehows]

...despite a thorough check and some replacement of batt. main leads, the damn starter still behaves as though theres a loose connection in one of the main batt. wires. One thing i noticed is the wire between the solenoid and the starter is not in great condition - but i re-fitted it as well as possible and it made no difference. Is it possible for anything in the feed line - ie the key switch, fuse or the wire itself, that could cause this? Or one of the Main swithches (they are pretty old big key type switches - seem fairly simple and sort of foolproof really...)

[MBWhite]

Either a wire or a connection is bad, or the starter itself has an issue that needs looking at.

You can wire in a 12v light bulb from the battery terminal to the starter terminal and if the wire or a connection is bad it will burn brightly. You can do both positive and negative terminal. If the start solenoid is on the wire and not the starter you can test in 3 steps- batt to solenoid, then across the solenoid, then solenoid to starter. Make sure batt voltage is acceptable .

I'm at a Thanksgiving/Birthday party right now so will have to write more later.

[Stu Jackson]

Main engine ground

That's what it usually comes down to.

[KDH]

We have just had this issue after burning out the starter solenoid. Went to the expense of getting a new solenoid on the old starter but it sounded sluggish...just like there was a problem with the battery and not spinning fast enough. Unfortunately spent the money on a rebuilt starter and solenoid only to find that the rebuilt starter sounded like it was grinding itself to death every time it started and it failed...during a gale offshore. My brilliant husband took the second replacement solenoid (which seemed larger or at least more powerful than the first replacement) on the old starter and reinstalled it on the engine while we were hove to. Worked fine. I would suggest removing the starter and having the solenoid replaced if that is possible. You didn't say what type of engine. Ours is a circa 1985 Perkins 4.108.

[rwidman]

As suggested above, current must not only flow from the battery to the starter, but from the starter back to the battery. So, if the cable from the engine to the negative battery terminal is loose or corroded, that could be the cause of your problem.

Other possibilities include a problem with the starter itself or a mechanical problem with the engine causing it to be hard to turn over.

You should be able to take the starter to a starter repair shop and have it tested and rebuilt if necessary.

[HappyMdRSailor]

Solenoid contacts....

[westwinds]

Might be a shorted starter. I have a amp meter for this that I hold against the battery cable. It goes to 500 amps and a shorted starter will go that high on a small diesel.

Also consider a bad cell in the battery.

Sometimes you can chech all the connections by cranking for 20 seconds and then quickly touch all connections looking for a hot one.

With a shorted starter everything will be hot.

A voltmeter works best though.

[DeepFrz]

Have you taken the starter out yet and had a look at the brushes? The starter may be full of carbon from the brushes. A good cleaning, new brushes, maybe new bearings and it should be good to go. Then if you still have the problem it is likely your power leads that you "refitted as well as possible" or your battery.

[DeepFrz]

Charlie, did you ever figure this out?