Starter Motor 3126TA

[osd9]

Yesterday afternoon, after changing out my Racors, when I went to start the port motor.....nothing but clicking. I could hear the solenoid kicking in, but the starter armature just wouldn´t go. The immediate first line of business.....get out the cell phone and make an SOS call to Frank W.

I got out a 'V'BFH ....(this isn't your father's chevy 350 starter motor)....and gave the starter a few ´what-fors´ and the motor started. I started the motor a few more times at the dock and had no further problems. Then we took a ride and docked for 2 1/2 hours and when we went to go home, it worked fine again. I let it sit overnight and I tried again this morning and it was fine again.

Frank:

Do I still have a problem? Should I still consider taking the starter motor to a shop for a rebuild or is this something I can do myself? Any tips on removing and cleaning up the starter?

I have great access to the starter, but this baby looks 'heavy'....I'm guessing I'm going to have to make some kind of a sling to hold this while I remove the bolts.



Any one have a recommendation for a shop in Central NJ (Jersey Shore) area?

 

[Four Suns]

You have a starter? I thought weed eaters had pull cords....

 

[osd9]

... I thought weed eaters had pull cords....

CATs use all chain.....no cords...cords are for QSM-11s...

 

[fwebster]

Dom,

It is a boat, weird things can happen. I would wait until you have the no-start problem enough so that the guy at the shop isn't looking for a 1 in 10,000 intermittant occurance and when you have help on the boat so you can be in the engine room to listen for the solenoids. As we said yesterday, you might be hearing the fuel supply solenoid instead of the starter solenoid closing when you are up at the helm where the starter switches are.

Besides, the guys at the John Deere shop are really busy fixing lawnmowers right about now.

 

[Dancin Dave]

My Cat guy advises to use the batteries in parallel every-time starting the motors. And be sure to not release the starter button to soon, be sure motor is fully running and this apparently keeps the starter in better shape.

 

[JC3]

Dom, I had the same thing happen in the Bahamas last fall. It was a battery connection. The Man mechanic happened to be in Chub for a hugh ?Viking that was having all kind of problems. He was walking by, heard it and yelled " check your battery connections". He was right. Just a clean up and retighten and whaloah bing, bang, and then pur. Just a thought. JC

 

[osd9]

Yeah...battery connections were my first thought also.....and a my first hope too! They were all good....a few well placed 'what-for's with the bfh got it going.

I'll do like Frank said....if it happens again in the near future, I'll just pull the starter and bring it in somewhere.....it's the somewhere that I don't know yet...

 

[Four Suns]

See... that's where Cummins shines over Cat. The starter on my QSM-11's has some funky 17 point star nuts and bolts on it so you need a special tool to tighten connections and the mount...

 

[osd9]

......

 

[Four Suns]

Yeah!

Damn... I thought I was special...

 

[fwebster]

Don't fret Cupcake, you ARE special..............!