Engine start CB-Oct2010-outline

Engine Starting random failure

In October 2010, the engine would not crank sometimes. We probably had some problems earlier, but it became obvious as the month went on. We finally had a case where we couldn't reset a circuit breaker to fix it. We were able to start it using a maintainer's way of cranking the engine over.
See description of functional testing, observations, and some thoughts while under way and experiencing the problem.

See report of testing and analysis of some possible failure modes. (Unfortunately, no problems were found, and engine started fine after our two days of testing!)

• TO DO: (informal list 'til we get organized)
  • Locate replacement CB in case we find it's failing
    • Have electrically equiv one aboard from West Marine - very different form-factor from original
    • Thorensen (? not sure of spelling) has located one that appears to fit in current location on engine
  • Get proper version of engine wiring diagram on wiki (only have camera copy of the good one that came with N'more, whih is in the hardcopy engine tech manual), and a nonsense one (still by Westerbeke) from another version of the engine manual.
  • Purge our referenes to the bad version of tech manual "Edition two" and make sure we're only using info from "Edition one"