I checked that the safety leash was connected, the gear was in neutral position and the motor start cables were properly attached to the battery.
First I thought that there is some kind of electrical failure so I opened the engine cover,
I tried to rotate the flywheel and noticed that it was stuck. It was quite hard to notice but the starter motor drive gear was barely touching the flywheel gear but enough to block the rotation.
I tried to rotate the flywheel using an emergency pull rope but it was too stuck.
Then I sprayed a little WD-40 on the top of the starter motor and gave two knocks with a wrench,
the starter motor drive gear dropped a little and the the flywheel turned and was freed.
After that the motor started without any problems :)
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| Tap here gently if your flywheel seems to be stuck. |
Check the electric starter motor, had the same kind of problem on my Madeira 50 hp, had to buy a new one as the old one was beyound salvation. The pinion shaft did have so much free play that it did not come up in a straight position towards the flywheel. Luckily the engine has been so easy to start it was enough with one or two turns of the flywheel to have the engine started but it feels much safer with a new electrical starter, no worries about that on the sea 😀
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