Starter/Battery/Stator Issues

[Golflover]

Hello and thank you in advance to all you great boat minds,

I have a 1985 Sea Ray Seville with a 170 HP, 3.7L Mercruiser.

I normally navigate the Saint Clair River in Michigan. Because it's a moving body of water I generally will run the boat at varying speeds (Not hard, but between 10MPH and 30 MPH) for 4-5 hours without shutting her down. The boat runs great as does the stereo, depth finder, blower, bilge pump and ship to shore. However, on the occasion that I do go to the beach or throw an anchor after some run time, attempts to start the boat sometimes fails. It sounds like the rythmic ticking of a weak battery; like there is not enough power to fully engage the bendix. If I let the boat sit for a while it will then start.

The dash volt meter reads around 12v and my handheld voltmeter shows the battery at 12.5 volts.

Aside from changing the stator to an alternator system, does anyone have a step by step approach to help me diagnose and narrow the issues: Starter, starter solenoid, water cooled voltage regulator, stator??? I have a multimeter, but confess I'm not a pro at using it.

I'm grateful for any insight.

Kurt

 

[achris]

Re: Starter/Battery/Stator Issues

... my handheld voltmeter shows the battery at 12.5 volts.

Aside from changing the stator to an alternator system, does anyone have a step by step approach to help me diagnose and narrow the issues: ...

You just did. About the only other thing you could check is the voltage on the orange wire at the voltage regulator. It should be the same as the battery voltage. If there is a significant difference, start looking for a bad connection somewhere in the circuit of the orange wire to starter to battery switch to battery. The voltage should be 13.7 to 14.3 volts with the engine running. If it isn't, then time for the alternator upgrade.