Intermittent beeps and no starter motor

[tradrockrat]

Hi all -

I just completed a rebuild of the head of a Perkins 4-108

I went to bleed the atomizers and when I turned the starter switch I got an intermittent beep instead of a continuous tone and no action on the starter.

BATTERIES ARE GOOD

ENGINE GROUND IS GOOD

Engine worked great until valve went necessitating this rebuild.

I've never heard an intermittent beep before - what is the cause of that?

It makes me think I screwed something up on the reassembly, but I took pics and matched everything when I put it back together.

Thanks!

[kaisardog]

If your engine panel has the alarm -on - start setup like my Yamar 3 jh 4 e did, where the sending unit sends a screeching alarm til you actually turn the engine on , i d suspect the noise might be an intermittent activation of that alarm, caused by a loose wiring connection somewhere between starter , sending unit and key start switch. You could check that by bypassing the key start panel to see jf you get the weird noise. An engine electric diagram for yr engine showing what alarm sender is activated when you start might be available from someone on this board or at boatdiesel. com.

[tkeithlu]

If that's ALL you got, no loud thud and no smoke, it's electrical, not an assembly problem. Turn the motor over (no fuel, breaking bar on front end, turn slowly) to prove there is no obstruction.

Now. The ignition switch powers the starter solenoid. It makes a click. The starter circuit, thereby charged, turns the starter motor, sends the Bendix flying, and cranks the engine. I suspect that if you look in those two circuits, you'll find a connection that reads OK on your voltmeter, but won't carry the current necessary (a couple of hundred amps) to spin the whole thing. Determine that the solenoid is working, then get out the sandpaper and shine up every single connection between the battery + and the battery -.

[roberttigar]

check the small screws on the trans (stbd side) where the neutral interlock is. They tend to loosen or corrode which interrupts the wire that goes to the starter drive. Bob

[Lepke]

If you have a stock solenoid, you can wire in a push button in the engineroom between the post with the cable from the battery to the small terminal. That will energize the starter w/o going thru any control panel. It's also handy when jogging the engine when setting the valves.