"I have a Cal-39 with a Perkin
"I have a Cal-39 with a Perkins 4-108 and Borg Warner reverse gear. It is hard to cold start when left for more than a few days. The boat lives in the Pacific Northwest and so its cool enough most of the time for it to be slow to start. In the colder months it can take 30 to 45 seconds of cranking to get it to begin to try to run. Usually I will crank it for about 15 to 20 sec and then wait a minute or so and try again and after a few times I usually go ahead and crank it for 30 sec or so and then it will light off. This is usually the way it goes when it is in the 40s.
I have good clean fuel, new filters, fresh overhaul on the injectors, two good 12v starting batteries in parallel, so it cranks at a good speed.
Once started it runs great. After the huge white cloud(at start up) dissipates, the exhaust looks fine. Very little smoke unless I push it over 2500 when underway, then it will put out black smoke. It will start right away when warm or even after it has been shut down for a few hours. If it is in the 50s or 60s it will still start fine after a day or so but gets progressively worse as days go by and temp goes down.
The boat will make 6.5 to 7kts at around 2100 RPM and everything feels like it's running ok. Temp is good, aprox 180deg (on the gauge).
I have had the boat for over a year. The engine has aprox 2500 hrs since overhaul and has (according to the previous owner) always been hard to start when cold and always ran fine once started.
I am worried about destroying the starter motor and I think I would rather replace the entire engine than try to replace just the starter motor.
Any thoughts on this will be appreciated."
"I have a Cal-39 with a Perkins 4-108 and Borg Warner reverse gear. It is hard to cold start when left for more than a few days. The boat lives in the Pacific Northwest and so its cool enough most of the time for it to be slow to start. In the colder months it can take 30 to 45 seconds of cranking to get it to begin to try to run. Usually I will crank it for about 15 to 20 sec and then wait a minute or so and try again and after a few times I usually go ahead and crank it for 30 sec or so and then it will light off. This is usually the way it goes when it is in the 40s.
I have good clean fuel, new filters, fresh overhaul on the injectors, two good 12v starting batteries in parallel, so it cranks at a good speed.
Once started it runs great. After the huge white cloud(at start up) dissipates, the exhaust looks fine. Very little smoke unless I push it over 2500 when underway, then it will put out black smoke. It will start right away when warm or even after it has been shut down for a few hours. If it is in the 50s or 60s it will still start fine after a day or so but gets progressively worse as days go by and temp goes down.
The boat will make 6.5 to 7kts at around 2100 RPM and everything feels like it's running ok. Temp is good, aprox 180deg (on the gauge).
I have had the boat for over a year. The engine has aprox 2500 hrs since overhaul and has (according to the previous owner) always been hard to start when cold and always ran fine once started.
I am worried about destroying the starter motor and I think I would rather replace the entire engine than try to replace just the starter motor.
Any thoughts on this will be appreciated."