Overfilled engine with oil

[Cadence]

Originally Posted by Markhunter1097

So here is the update on my generator saga. The storms in Sydney over last weekend meant there was no chance to do any of the tests that I said I would, and this weekend is a long one here and more for party's not engine work.
So I called up my local friendly marine electrician and sent him onto the job after a very brief description of what was wrong.
I think he solved the problem within the first 15 minutes, he found that the earth that went from the generator to the main engine block was broken at the generator end, thus the non function of the starter motor. He re earthed it directly to the battery and she fired up perfectly!
Well how about that, who would have thought that overfilling an engine with oil would lead to the earth falling off! Not me that is for sure; funny how my thinking was poisoned to the extent that I couldn't solve the problem myself.
Thank you everyone very much for your help, and most informative replies.
Mark.


Sent from my iPad using Cruisers Sailing Forum

Great! Happenstance is a bitch.

[captlloyd]

[QUOTE=Markhunter1097;2140059]Looking at the picture I posted again, the offending earth can be seen just behind the exhaust riser on the main engine, not that it looks broken, but it is very accessible and something that in obvious hindsight I should have checked initially, yet wouldn't looking at the earth be looking for a 'zebra'? Considering that I thought I had blown the engine up with too much oil.


Actually a somewhat valid point. What apparently happened in your case was a snowballing event. Your engine was hydro-locked which caused an over-load on your starter which in turn caused the faulty connection to finally fail. Usually the way these occure. The reference to the zebra story is that your starter did not fail, (the zebra) the connection did. (The horse).