Finally got the Dump up from AL and deliverred to our place up in the Northern Neck of VA. It was purchased non-running, but complete w/ good rubber. Hardly a steal, but I'm happy. Looked it over thurs day after we dropped it off the trailer, drained the gunk from the fuel filter can, replaced the rubber ends on the vent lines, checked the bats (doa) and checked the fuel selector valve (a few new hoses). Made a list for the weekend and headed home.
Drove up sat w/ 2 new group 31's and few other necessities with the hope and every intention of geting it running. Downloaded all the TM's and manuals onto a flash drive and packed the laptop too.
Hooked up the new bats, walked around once more, cleared the fuel can again, primed the intake etc. and hit the swtiches....here's what I found:
Bat On: only gauge responding is fuel, reading correct for both tanks. No buzzer, no volts.
Ignition: click at control box, nada @ starter.
Pulled the voltmeter out, 24 @ starter, 24 @ switch, 24 @ switch wire at starter.
Cleaned all the contacts on the starter wires, no love. Control box is new(er) Southern Auto (sp) type and looks like it was recently replaced.
Now I've read through all the tm's, including troubleshooting and really didn't help much. Fell back on personal experience and took a closer look at the starter. Pulled it out of the block, hooked wires back up to field bench test it and still nothing. It has the prestolite starter (ngc 250 cummins), tried to pull the solenoid off and couldn't, no interweb so I dropped it out and took it back home.
I went to the starter motor after assuming the control box was good based on a. it's relative newness, b. the fact i was getting volts at the start wire from the box in the start position.
When I got hone and searched posts I just have become more confused. The lack of the buzzer and bat gauges seems to point me towards a bad box, the volts at the switch wire point me to the starter.
Questions: 1. best way to bench test starter in a home workshop environment ? 2. Thoughts on why I have fuel gauge but no others? separate circuit away from control box?? 3. how the heck do you get the solenoid either off the starter body, or for that matter back in to the housing, sticks out about .25" and the stubby bolts won;t line up.
Any feedback is appreciated please . pics below, including bat terminal wiring, apolgize for the blury on those
sorry about the quality, I left the cables in the original orientation on the terminals for the main pos and neg, and deleted the short jumpers betw/ the 2 6v in each box. was rading 24v @ the slave recep. also
sorry about the quality, I left the cables in the original orientation on the terminals for the main pos and neg, and deleted the short jumpers betw/ the 2 6v in each box. was rading 24v @ the slave recep. also
There should have been 2-12v in each box, for a total of 4-12v. 2 sets in series and parallel. That creates the 24v with twice the cranking power.
To run with 2-12v, leave out the cables marked 68-7, and connect the wire marked 6 to the terminal with the cables marked 48 and 49.
That may be what you did, but it's hard to tell in the pics.
Edit: to bench test the starter, I use a commercial 24v battery charger that has boosting capacity.
From TM 9-2320-260-20
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Ok, not to be funny, but is there a chance your 24 volts was reversed? If so, would explain some of the odd readings. Second thought, for the starter bench testing, you can hook up your starter to ground of the 24v battery, CLAMP THE STARTER DOWN, and apply direct voltage to the terminals. You will probably get immediate turn, if not, then your starter may be kaput. I haven't seen your starter, so I can't tell you where the terminals are, but it's how I "hard" tested starters in the olden days when I had no test gear. Or take it down to the local NAPA, mine out here will test it for you. I'm a big fan of that way, so they can take the blame if they short it out.
If your starter tests good that way, it's power. Could be bad solenoid, so that's an easy (relatively) fix. Could be bad wiring. Electrical gremlins are the most fun to chase.
These are only my thoughts, and your mileage may differ. I suspect there are better experts on this site, I just happen to be awake.
BadMastard
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BadMastard
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looking at the pics again--- you really need to take a close look at how the batts are hooked up. from what you said , it appears the positive posts are hooked together?
Thank you for the replies. Mckee, I'm not real good at schematics, but I think I understand what your saying. In simple terms, I removed the orginal 6v's, left the "long" battery cables attached to their original terminals (both pos and neg) and removed the very short cables and terminals that ran between the the two 6v in each box. the ones removed are covered in TM 209-2320-260-20, para 4-48, at the top of page 4-97, everything else was left in same arrangement as per the TM.
jumper from pos term on lh bat, to pos term on rh bat and starter cable hooked to same term on rh bat, negs are the similar, jumper from neg on rh bat to lh bat term, same term has cable to frame ground....
I will get better pics next week, promise
yes both pos itives are hooked together, pardon my ignorance (sincerely) when linking them together should it be pos to neg from one battery to the other?
M817 just arrived joy and pain
