On Tue, 18 May 2004 08:48:09 -0500, "Ree-Yees"
wrote:

I posted a follup up to my water leaking problem for you.

Yesterday evening I removed the starter from the boat. I hooked it up to
the battery and it splun freely. I took it down to the autoparts store
where they can do a load test. The first run with it it made some terrible
grinding noises. The next time all it got was click, click, click. Then we
beat it with a hammer and it ran fine with the load but was pulling 5 times
of the normal amount of battery power. So the starter is definitly busted.

I have a new one on the way that I should be able to pick up today for $200.
I couldnt find a mechanic around me that could rebuild them. They all said
they woudl have to send it off for a week. So I guess I'll be sporting a
new one in my boat if it arrives today.

Hopefully that will put me back in the water this evening.

Hopefully the new starter is marine rated. Otherwise you run the risk
of exposed sparks potentially causing an explosion if gasoline fumes
were to accumulate in your bilge.

Dave

"Ree-Yees" wrote

snip
I have a new one on the way that I should be able to pick up today for
$200.
I couldnt find a mechanic around me that could rebuild them. They all
said
they woudl have to send it off for a week. So I guess I'll be sporting a
new one in my boat if it arrives today.

Hopefully that will put me back in the water this evening.

I was in the same "boat" myself - had to buy a new one to get back on the
water sooner rather than later. I suggest you go ahead and get the old one
rebuilt anyway - you might be surprised that it would pay off some day when
you're in the same position of having a broken starter. It happens...
btdt.

Cam

On Tue, 18 May 2004 08:48:09 -0500, "Ree-Yees" I have a new one on the
way that I should be able to pick up today for $200.
I couldnt find a mechanic around me that could rebuild them. They all
said
they woudl have to send it off for a week. So I guess I'll be sporting a
new one in my boat if it arrives today.

Hopefully that will put me back in the water this evening.


By the way, in case you didn't know, the sort of place that generally
rebuilds starters (and alternators) is an electric motor rebuild shop - not
a "normal" mechanic. In my town, they're listed in the Yellow Pages under
"Electric Motors - Dealers and Repairing".

Rather than relying on my mechanic to take care of it, I've been able to
save several days - even up to a week - in this process by calling around
the shops and finding one that can take the project sooner than others, and
hand carrying the starter myself to that shop. My mechanic is a good guy
and excellent mechanic. But like most parts of his business, he has a
re-build shop he tends to deal with and takes whatever scheduling they
offer. Sometimes that's several days slower than another shop could do it.
He just doesn't mess with calling around for stuff like this. Also, it
might be a full day before he actually takes the starter over to the shop.

Last time I needed this done, I was able to get it done by the end of the
next day vs. the approximately 5 or more days it would have taken if it had
followed a more passive route with my mechanic.

The rebulid shops in my town marinize the ones intended for boats. There's
fairly minor - but significant - differences between automotive and marine
starters, and the cost difference for rebuilding is small.

Good luck, hope you're back on the water soon.

Cam