Hand cranking the MD17C in an AS-25

[NickScheuer]

One morning on our recent Apostle Islands cruise the starting battery gave the starter a instant of power than stopped dead. Having always wondered how crank starting works, we took the trouble to remove the motor box, read the directions in our motor manual, and fit the crank to the shaft. Flipping the three compression release levers up to vertical did not relieve compression sufficiently for me to turn over the motor. the manual seems to indicate that the motor should turn over fairly rapidly before the levers are returned to horizontal. Does this indicate a problem with compression release? of course the key switch was in the "run" position during cranking

Plan--B was to reinstall the motor box, remove the floor panel under the helm to expose the batteries, and switch the starter to the house battery. This worked fine for starting the motor. We should have done that first and saved ourselves a lot of effort, however, I thought trying the crank once would be a good idea.

[kerrye]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bimbs2cNYHw

Just finished a cruise in the North Channel in our A25. Thought I might see you up there again this year.

[kerrye]

MD1 hand cranked. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAzpeHGmvXg

[kerrye]

I would think you could get an answer to your question by using the electric starter with the compression levers up and down. You should be able to tell the difference in the speed the starter turns the engine.

[kerrye]

By the way, not sure what your plan was, but I've seen videos of 3 cylinder diesels hand cranked and they dropped the compression levers one at a time, engaging a second cylinder once one cylinder was running.

[dkirsop]

In both videos I am willing to bet the engine was already warm. It would be a different story if cold. I tried hand cranking my Albin AD21 and quickly decided to make sure the batteries would remain in top condition!

[DesertAlbin736]

So was the battery the problem or the starter motor? I always carry a jump start battery pack on board as a backup in case house & start batteries both go dead.

[kerrye]

One big advantage of the decompression levers is that even if the battery is too weak to turn over a compressed engine, it is likely to still have enough power to turn over a decompressed engine. So activating the levers and spinning the engine with the starter and then dropping a lever to start one cylinder is an option I wish I had on my Westerbeke.