99 sea ray sundancer 290 starter issue??

[vjzink0648]

Hello, I'm not sure if my issue fits in here or not but if anyone can be of help it would be appreciated. I just bought a 99 sundancer 290 with twin 4.3's a week ago and on the sea trial it ran great. Yesterday I took it out for a spin, stupid at the gas station, practiced docking a bit and out idled and ran great. Ran it back to the entrance to the Marina and when I slowed down to idle, the starboard engine died. When I tried to restart, it make grinding type noise and would start. I thought it might have been a battery issue because when I checked the batteries the fluids were real low so i filled them with distilled water. After the boat being on the charger all night I tried starting the next morning and was able to get it started and it ran great at higher rpm but at idle it was real low and died again. Then when trying to start it again it made grinding type noise again. Is this a starter issue?? Could a starter affect the idle??

Thanks!!

 

[threejays]

I would be looking into a bad alternator. What does your voltage gauges read? They should both be around 14 at idle and 15-16 at 2000 RPM. If you notice that there is a gauge different’ s between the two my next step would be to check the voltage at the back of the alternator with a volt ohm / meter. I had a similar issue on my port side engine and because the port side has two battery’s it took a while for the voltage to drop the end result was a bad alternator.

hope that helps!!

 

[Bucit]

Not sure about the grinding noise but if it will not idle it's mot likely an Idle Air Control (IAC). $100 part and a 5 minute fix with a beer in your hand. Just saw your boat is a 99'. Not sure if it has IAC's or not.

 

[Mike Blake]

Why don't you check the battery condition first. Then go from there. Instead of throwing parts at it. Welcome to CSR!

 

[vjzink0648]

thanks guys, i checked the battery and it was completely dead but the battery place said it was still good, just needed good charge. im gonna put it back in and see if anything changes. will report back what i find. thanks again everyone for your responses.