Turnover trouble

[Emf27]

Since the weather has cooled off been having some hard starts. Now gone from hard to failing to turnover. Starter seems to be functioning. Checked the batteries tonight, one at 12.5 and the other registered 11.2 on the voltmeter. Planning on placing a charger overnight to see if that does the trick. Any other suggestions are greatly appreciated.

 

[swiss]

I am not sure what you are saying with "Hard Starts" and then failing to turn over then starter seems to be good. Lots of miss information could be read into these statements.

1.) if the motor is not starting but turning over as temp drops your glow plugs are shot. Lots of threads on this problem in the CUCV and HMMWV forums
2.) If the starter is not turning the motor over and you have been running the starter over and over to get the truck to start go to point 1 and get that fixed and get batteries charged.

Voltage should be ~ 14 volts on each battery when running and then 28.88 across both batteries when the motor is running.

 

[Wire Fox]

I agree with all of the above. All of the common issues I read for hard start/no start conditions are tied to bad glowplugs, damaged start box, or poor grounds. In your case with the batteries also registering low, I'd make sure you get those charged up properly and tested to make sure they're not going to fail on you and damage something that's not already damaged.

For more details on what to look for, this sticky over at G503 may be able to help you: http://g503.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=63&t=230913

 

[doghead]

Load test the batteries.

 

[infidel got me]

Glowplug light? Is it working? Depending on which box you have, do you hear an audible click when you turn the switch on? If your glow plugs are not working you can spin it over till the starter falls off.

 

[infidel got me]

Not to be a broken record, but there is tons of post on trouble shooting no/hard starts. The post will put you on the right track without guessing and spending a lot of time and money. Be careful when charging batteries ---- don't try to crank it while charging because you can fry the control box.

 

[Emf27]

I do hear an audible click, the light has been working intermittently

 

[jeffy777]

I had the similar (or the same) issue a few weeks ago. I left the electrics on and drained the batteries a little. I bought and used a Schumacher SE-3000 1.5-200 Amp Manual Fleet Battery Charger which has a 24 volt system on it. Be careful you hookup the cables correctly. I imagine Humvees are generally the same and they are two 12V in series. So it is the Negative that is not connected to the other batteries positive and and the positive that is not attached to the other batteries negative. (At least that is what I did.)

 

[Behr]

Had the same thing last week. Pulled all the glow plugs, tested with my multimeter, only 3 were working! Go figure, the three good ones were the easy ones to get to on the drivers side. The two hardest ones on passenger side were slightly swollen. Very carefully removed, and luckily they didn't break. Replaced all with brand new ones and my truck is ALIVE! Starts like it is brand new

 

[911joeblow]

If you need glow plugs I have the newest versions found in the GEM motors new in boxes for $9@ if you want them.

 

[Bulldogger]

Do the easy thing and disconnect, inspect, clean and reconnect all connections involved first. Start with the battery box, assuming you haven't already touched that area. Most MVs are not "turn-key", they need refurbished nearly everywhere and periodic revisits. It's not Whether or not to clean and inspect all the bits and bobs, it's When to do it.

In the case of the starter I noticed when running my grounding harness that all the wires down there were 1) close to the exhaust along with making a few bends, and 2) dirty as all get out despite having washed my HMMWV more than once (at the Syria Car Wash, for those that know it). Experienced lots of cursing and spitting out crusty bits that fell on me while I worked, on that piece. Cleaning up the starter area connections and checking that the wires are protected and not chafed will give you piece of mind, even if they don't give you your solution.

Bulldogger

 

[1 Patriot-of-many]

BTW you don't need to pull them to test them......For future reference.

 

[Behr]

Yeah I know, they needed replacement anyways though, was going to wait till spring but the no start motivated me to get it done