225 OX 66 Starter Hesitation

[ahill]

When I turn on my ignition, wait for the warning sounds to stop and turn to start both starter motors hesitate for a second and then start normally.
I can't recall if they have been doing that all along or if I never noticed it before.
Any advice?
Both batteries register 12.6 v off & 14.4 v with motors running.

 

[family affair]

I know mine doesn't hesitate, but I'm only running a single.

I didn't know alarms went off before starting. Are all OX66 225' s supposed to do this?

 

[seasick]

You need to determine if the started is slow to spin when started or if the bendix drive is slow to engage the flywheel. In the later case, you will hear the starter spin and a bit later hear the started engage. Slow engagement can be due to a few things such as low voltage, a starter that is going bad or a gummed up/binding Bendix drive.

If on the other hand, the starter does not start to spin as soon as the key is turned, you could have a bad starter or a bad solenoid. Whichever it is, it will most likely get worse over time.

The fact that both starters are doing this and assuming that both started doing it the same time, leads me to suspect a voltage issue. That could be a bad battery cable, connector, motor ground etc. If the voltage at the starter is low, the starter spins slower and takes a while to 'throw' the bendix gear. Your battery voltage could be fine but excessive loss over the cable run could cause the issue you are experiencing.

 

[ahill]

Seasick,
My boat is a 272 with the batteries mounted aft.
Batt connections are clean. I'll check all connections next time I'm at the boat.
When I turn the key I hear a sound, then a sec of nothing, then the starter spins.
I'll check with the hood off before cleaning connections.
I have a 2 year old Genius 4 charger with a separate lead to each of the 4 batteries.
Both starters hesitate regardless of battery selected to start.
I'll follow your troubleshooting advice, thanks.

 

[seasick]

Seasick,
My boat is a 272 with the batteries mounted aft.
Batt connections are clean. I'll check all connections next time I'm at the boat.
When I turn the key I hear a sound, then a sec of nothing, then the starter spins.
I'll check with the hood off before cleaning connections.
I have a 2 year old Genius 4 charger with a separate lead to each of the 4 batteries.
Both starters hesitate regardless of battery selected to start.
I'll follow your troubleshooting advice, thanks.

Good plan. Take a look with the cowling off. See if the starter is spinning but not throwing the bendix. Also make sure that the heavy ground wire that connects both batteries to each other is connected and OK.

 

[ahill]

Turned out to be bad battery grounds.
Outwardly looked fine but upon removing battery ground cables found a lot of corrosion & deposits on cables and terminal.
Cleaned everything up and the hesitation stopped and other DC items are working great.