Had to use emergency start switch on < 1 yr old battery

T

ThrowingWakes

Member
Apr 18, 2020
50
Boat Info
1988 300 Weekender
Engines
Two 1988 Mercruiser 350
Hey folks, got all new batteries, my port would not start yesterday. When turning the key on, battery showed as 12V, but the starting attempt just resulted in tick tick ticking and no crank. I used the emergency switch to jump it, started fine.

Starting solenoids are brand new, oil is new.

In talking with someone on the dock he suggested a faulty battery charger that may have drained the liquid in my battery and that I should add distilled water to it.

Could this also possibly be an alternator or a starter issue?

This is probably a common problem, just wanted to run it by you before I jumped to conclusions.
 
I would check your charger and connections to the battery first. If it's been in the slip and on the charger, the battery should not be dead. Breaker to the charger is on I assume. Could also be a faulty battery. It is not impossible that it is defective.
 
I'll have to get in there and check all that. I'm kind of new to mechanics (computer guy here), so I need to first see what a battery charger looks like! The cables on the batteries themselves should be fine, that was all hooked up to the new bats less than a year ago. I'm assuming the breaker is on the charger or near it.

Also, the starboard engine isn't having this issue, not sure if that tells us anything. How would you know a battery is defective, when everything else is ruled out?
 
First thing I would check is the breaker that turns the charger on, and also if there are any 12v devices left on while the charger was inadvertently left off. Clean connections are also important to check annually. If all that checks out, I would wonder about the battery. I just returned a brand new tractor battery that tested ok at the store but would not crank the starter. Its replacement did the trick. Sometimes new batteries sit at a retail store longer than they should and are still sold.
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It could realistically be just about anything at this point. Don't discount those battery cables (or any of the associated cables), though - just because they were hooked up "less than a year ago" doesn't mean they aren't loose/corroded or failing internally - especially if they are 32 years old.

Start with checking (removing, cleaning, inspecting, re-attaching) all connectors between the battery (grounds, too!) and the starter (although the starter, itself, and it's connection should be fine since the crossover worked). This is free and relatively easy.

The other easy thing to check is the battery condition - charge it fully and load test it (Autozone does this for free). In fact, this is easier than checking all the wires so you might want to start with that.

EDIT: Sorry, meant to "ditto" what the others said about checking for items left on and checking that the charger is doing its thing first... then moving on to the other things. To check the charger, check the voltage directly at the battery with a meter. Then use the battery for some items for 10 minutes. Then check the voltage directly at the battery again. Now turn the charger on and again check the voltage.
 
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ThrowingWakes said:
I'll have to get in there and check all that. I'm kind of new to mechanics (computer guy here), so I need to first see what a battery charger looks like! The cables on the batteries themselves should be fine, that was all hooked up to the new bats less than a year ago. I'm assuming the breaker is on the charger or near it.

Also, the starboard engine isn't having this issue, not sure if that tells us anything. How would you know a battery is defective, when everything else is ruled out?
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The breaker for the charger is on your AC panel next to your salon seating. It’s labeled AC Converter. Enjoy the 88 weekender, last year of the nice teak interior, 89 they didn’t do all that woodwork.
 
Ok dudes I goofed, I had only changed 2 of the 3 batteries and it smells like rotten eggs. The old man says that means the battery is drained and the plates are cooked so let me just swap the battery and hopefully that’s all it is.

I thought my 5 year old was passing gas!
 
Replaced the battery and now it starts like a champ. I was able to confirm the old battery was empty after removing the caps. I don't know if this battery was older than what I was originally told, but at least all 3 bats in there now I know exactly where and when I got them so no more mystery.
 
Usually get about 3 good years on marine group 27 batteries in my old boat 300 we 1986.The group 31 heavy duty commercials i use now seem to give me an extra year.
 
ThrowingWakes said:
Replaced the battery and now it starts like a champ. I was able to confirm the old battery was empty after removing the caps. I don't know if this battery was older than what I was originally told, but at least all 3 bats in there now I know exactly where and when I got them so no more mystery.
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That's good that it was a (relatively) cheap fix. But you should take this one step further to make sure the battery charger isn't malfunctioning and cooking your battery (it can fail on one charger lead, only). Your charger manual (or contact the company directly) should have self tests that can be done. It might be obvious, though, simply by comparing charging voltages/times directly at the batteries.

Also... be sure to check the fluid level in the battery every month or so and top off with distilled water, if needed.
 
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And, make sure all of your batteries are properly isolated so one bad battery does not deplete the others.
 
Ok I will check the liquid in about a month to see if anything unusual is going on.

I'll have to do some self-study on how battery chargers work before I undertake the "testing" aspect of it, these systems are new to me. Since I got the boat I replaced 2 starting solenoids, oil change, swapped a leaking valve, swapped a busted switch/breaker, replaced the stereo and 2 speakers, tightened the shaft nut where the packing is, and replaced the anchor line.

I'll be a mechanic in no time!
 
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