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echostar7

Active Member
Yesterday night I was AOG at an airport not far away from home where I went to get fuel. Master on, EIS showed battery at 12.6V, turn key to start. I hear a single click and no movement on the propeller voltage drop to 11.1v. An hour of hand propping assistance ensued but an o320 is hard to hand prop. Well I tried turning the starter again and the starter now works.. I guess movement of the engine from the attempted starts during handpropping fixed something. I fly home and now am wondering what is the problem. The starter is 4 years old, skytec 122-NL, I don't know how old the solenoid is maybe 12 years but my first thought was to replace that., What is the likely cause for the starter not working?
 
Number of potential problem areas. Battery condition, cable connector not quite clean or good solid contact, starter relay thinking about giving it up. Could test the battery, and while doing that, go through and clean/check all connections including grounds.
 
Could also be a bad spot on the commutator in the starter (if these modern starters still have commutators?).
I think the battery would have drooped a lot more than 11.1 volts if it is the problem.
Personally, I'd check all connections, including the ground from engine back to battery.
If nothing, I'd then swap the starter contactor as it is a lot cheaper than even rebuilding the starter.
 
blaplante said:
Could also be a bad spot on the commutator in the starter (if these modern starters still have commutators?).
I think the battery would have drooped a lot more than 11.1 volts if it is the problem.
Personally, I'd check all connections, including the ground from engine back to battery.
If nothing, I'd then swap the starter contactor as it is a lot cheaper than even rebuilding the starter.
Click to expand...
Solenoids can and do give trouble. Seen 2 week old ones go bad. I would seriously look at everything else before blaming the starter. If nothing else short across the solenoid to take it out of the equation. Make sure that you don't start the motor and chop off an arm. I have an 8' remote starter button system that works great.
My luck varies FIXIT
 
I went to Spruce order a starter relay yesterday. In a their 2022 catalogue it was $12.99. I knew the price went up a bit but wasn't ready for $92.00. I went to Amazon and ordered one for $12.50. When mine died it just stopped working. No click,
no noise, no voltage drop, nothing.
Another builder said to be sure to install a diode on both the master relay and starter relay. Available from Van's.
 
echostar7 said:
Yesterday night I was AOG at an airport not far away from home where I went to get fuel. Master on, EIS showed battery at 12.6V, turn key to start. I hear a single click and no movement on the propeller voltage drop to 11.1v. An hour of hand propping assistance ensued but an o320 is hard to hand prop. Well I tried turning the starter again and the starter now works.. I guess movement of the engine from the attempted starts during handpropping fixed something. I fly home and now am wondering what is the problem. The starter is 4 years old, skytec 122-NL, I don't know how old the solenoid is maybe 12 years but my first thought was to replace that., What is the likely cause for the starter not working?
Click to expand...
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look at this site. They might be able to help you
 
There is a problem with the 320 if you can't hand prop it, I've hand propped J3 Cubs with 150hp and 160hp O320 engines at least l000 times when I towed banners, about 3 starts a day every day for two years.. closer to 2 thousand times.. did not have starters so had to prop them. Pump the throttle a couple times with the mags off than prop two times with the mags still off than mags on and the first swing she should fire off.
 
[email protected] said:
Solenoids can and do give trouble. Seen 2 week old ones go bad. I would seriously look at everything else before blaming the starter. If nothing else short across the solenoid to take it out of the equation. Make sure that you don't start the motor and chop off an arm. I have an 8' remote starter button system that works great.
My luck varies FIXIT
Click to expand...
Right, and considering the starter worked perfectly afterwards, I'm more prone to believe the starter is fine.
 
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