trouble starting up

(hawk22) · (hawk22) **Join Date: Jul 2006** 09-16-2008, 10:44 PM

my boats running pretty solid now. The only issue I'm having is starting. fires up at the dock fine, but batteries sound dead after a little while. I called my mechanic and he suggested bad batter cables? so he told me the way to test it is run jumper cables directly from the battery to the starter cylenoid and see if it fires up. Sure enough it starts perfectly. If that's all it is, then great, sounds like it should be an easy fix. But my question is if the cables are bad, then why does it start fine the first time? Or could there be something else?

(imscarlet) · (imscarlet) **Join Date: Mar 2008** 09-17-2008, 1:53 AM

Check that the connections are tight and free of corrosion at both the battery end of the cables (positive & negative) and at the starter for the positive cable and the engine block for the negative cable.

(bflat53212) · (bflat53212) **Join Date: Mar 2003** 09-17-2008, 5:58 AM

Jermey, I just had the same issue. I changed out my battery cables, easy to do and not that expensive. You can just go to any auto parts store. I think the gauge is like a 2, depends on your boat. I would also put the battery on a charger over night to get it a full charge.

(bigkitch) · (bigkitch) **Join Date: Apr 2008** 09-17-2008, 6:51 AM

Usually its your best bet to run a 2 guage wire. The cables make look ok from the outside, but over time they can get corroded and stiffen up on the inside, which turns them from a soft battery cable, into a solid steel line pretty much haha.

Just grab a set of 2 guage wires and get them on there. If the problem comes back, look into your starter after that, if its not the cables, the starter might be on its way out, causing an over draw in power and draining the battery.

(hawk22) · (hawk22) **Join Date: Jul 2006** 09-17-2008, 7:41 AM

thanks. I know running the cables won't be a big deal. the theory makes sense obviously since running cables directly solved the issue, but I was just curious why it doesn't give me that problem at first start.

(meathead65) · (meathead65) **Join Date: Sep 2006** 09-17-2008, 9:11 AM

Your alternator's charge circuit puts juice back into the batteries thru the cables as well...marginal battery cables will not effectively carry the charge back to the battery, and you will notice a drop in starting performance as the day goes on. The first start of the day, on a rested, cool battery, will always be the "hottest", especially if you aren't getting good re-charge input from the alternator.