A break in the pressurized shore-water line caused major flooding in my 50' foot schooner Britannia and it would have sunk her, had I not managed to stop it. I subsequently stripped and thoroughly cleaned five electric pumps and they worked flawlessly again. I also drained the creamy engine and transmission oil and replaced it, then, remarkably the engine fired up the first time as usual.

Since the engine continued to start every time, I assumed the starter motor was fine, and I confess, I also relied upon the often used, but flawed, boating aphorism, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." During the hot summer months in Florida we hardly visited the boat anyway, and rarely started the engine.

Later the starter began to turn slower and slower, as though the dedicated battery was at the end of its five-year life. So I installed a new battery, but without any change in the sluggish turnover, which was now hardly sufficient to fire the engine at all. I checked and cleaned the heavy-duty cable connections, but it made no difference. There was only one thing left to do; remove the starter and examine it.

The thing about starter motors on heavy diesel engines in boats is; they're bloody heavy! My engine is a Perkins 4.236 weighing half a ton and the starter is bolted to the engine low down in the bowels of the bilge with three very rusty 3/8" inch nuts, one of which was almost impossible to reach with a wrench. After hanging upside down over the engine for half an hour I finally got it off and hauled it out, using the cable attached to the solenoid. The machine is 15" inches long and weighs 34 Lbs. A small boat could use it as a mooring buoy

 

DISMANTLING THE STARTER:

There are two main parts to these well-tried and normally very reliable starters. First, there is the solenoid, which throws a tiny pinion gear, n the starter shaft into engagement with the flywheel on the engine. The ten teeth on the pinion have tapered teeth so they mesh smoothly into the flywheel gears. It is called a Bendix drive after the inventor; Vincent Bendix patented it in 1915. The second and much larger part is the actual starter, along with its armature that spins the engaged pinion gear and turns the flywheel, thus firing the engine. There could be numerous reasons why this was not happening, so everything needed looking at. I started with the solenoid.

Solenoid:

After securing the starter firmly in the jaws of the big swivel vice in my garage, I unscrewed the two bolts securing the solenoid to the starter casing, along with the screw holding the electrical cable to the body. The solenoid still would not come away from the body, until I discovered it needed rotating a little to dislodge it from the groove it was locked in. It then almost removed itself, due to a large spring inside the solenoid, which keeps the pinion disengaged until activated. Removing the solenoid revealed the large 1”�-inch diameter piston, which throws the pinion gear forward about 3/4" inch, into mesh with the flywheel. There is actually nothing else inside the body of the solenoid, all the electrics are in the end cap.

I unscrewed the two small electrical terminals and the screws holding the end cap of the solenoid, and carefully removed the cover. The brass contacts were very badly pitted, telling me that a good contact was no longer being made. I cleaned everything until the contacts gleamed, then I scrubbed the inside of the end cap. I greased the piston and oiled the lever arm and pinion shaft with waterproof lithium grease.

When the starter key or button is activated, an electro/magnetic field is created in the solenoid, causing the piston to retract against the spring and throw the pinion gear with great force into mesh with the flywheel. At the end of its travel the piston also pushes the contacts together, transmitting the full voltage from the battery into the starter.

After replacing the solenoid on the motor, it can be tested by applying a 12-volt current to the small terminal, and a return, whereupon the pinion gear should shoot forward on the shaft. Warning. Do not connect the heavy-duty battery wire to the solenoid during this test, or the starter will also activate and could easily jump out of a vice.

Starter body:

I next withdrew the two long screws from the rear of the starter casing and removed the backing plate. This revealed an unbelievable mass of sludge and grime covering the four brushes and the commutator. Some of it was so heavily encased as to refuse to be dislodged, even after prodding with a screwdriver, other parts dropped out in chunks of solid earth. It was quite remarkable that the starter had worked at all after the flooding.

The hardened muck took some removal. I first sprayed the inside with degreasing liquid, then washed it out with a strong jet of water from a hose- three times. (Cleaning the inside), then dried it all out with a heat gun.

I decided to remove the armature from inside the outer casing to inspect the windings. This was done by holding the casing in the vice and pulling the armature out.

The brushes remained attached to the outer casing, and the commutator slid off them. The windings inside seemed quite clean. No doubt due to the dousing it had received beforehand. I mounted the armature in the vice, with soft jaws installed, then rotated a strip of 400 grit sandpaper around the commutator until the brass gleamed. The armature windings were then cleaned and the end bearing and throw lever greased.

Before I could reinstall the armature, I first had to hold the four brushes apart in the body, so the commutator would slide between them. This was very easy to do with two small slivers of wood, wedged between the pair of arms on the brushes. When the armature was fully installed, I just pulled the bits of wood out and the brushes seated perfectly on the commutator. Then I replaced the end cap and screws.

My big vice held the starter securely, so I decided to make a bench test of the whole operation. Using a car battery I clipped jumper cables to the larger positive solenoid terminal and the negative to the starter body. Nothing happened until I held a second, thinner wire to the terminal which normally carries the starter wire. The pinion gear flew forward and the motor instantly began spinning furiously. On removing the green wire the motor died and the Bendix Drive retracted the pinion gear

A final touch was to repaint the whole assembly black, and I have myself an (almost) new starter motor. It has now performed perfectly on multiple starts, even when the battery was low, and it is a reassuring feeling to know the engine will start at the push of a button.