Westerbeke 8.0BTD no AC power output - what to check next?

k9medic

Active Member
Mar 27, 2013
597
Florida
Boat Info
1998 420 Aft Cabin
Engines
twin 3116 CATs
I´ve got a 1998 vintage Westerbeke with about 2800 hours on it.

It last ran with no issues in September. This past week I started it up and it will not put out AC power. The engine runs great with no strange noises. I did find that some water had been dripping onto the backend from a siphon break.

From the manual, here is what I have checked and done -

1. Power at breaker mounted to generator is 2.4 volts.

2. Probed bridge rectifier - no apparent issues.

3. Check two diodes that are accessible - no issues there.

I did notice that the manual shows a selector switch on it for ELEC/COMP. I do not have this switch.

Any other things I can check?

I'm leaning towards a stator.
 
Did you check the breaker
 
I called the local repair shop and he said that I did all but one thing - excite the rectifier with 12V directly.

When that is done it will do one of three things -
1. start producing voltage that means it's a bad bridge rectifier (even though it probed correctly)
2. make a horrendous growling noise and bog down the engine - means a new backend is needed
3. shoot a large spark out of the back - means a new backend is needed.

Unfortunately for me #2 was what happened.

It appears that the leaking siphon break allowed enough water to get onto the stator for it to corrode/short.

I can repair it myself with a reman. backend for $2500 or he can come up and do it for $3000 or so. I figure if I do it an mess it up, then I have to call him anyway so it's $500 well spent.
 
Bummer.

I understand why some boats that came with a generator had them removed w/o replacing them.

When I was buying my current boat I saw in the maintenance records where the generator was removed for new seals/gaskets due to an oil leak. Repairs were north of 2K including port engine removal to gain access.

Good luck on your repairs.
 

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