FSH210 Engine intermittently hard starting

[jdbakerucf]

I am having a weird starting issue with one of my engines. Boat is a 2019 FSH 210 with the TR-1 engines. I have had this issue happen 3 different times since owning the boat. When anchored somewhere engines off I will go to start the boat back up and the starboard engine fires right up every time, the port engine however will crank and but not start. In the 3 times this has happened there has been some items drawing power from the batteries while the engines are stopped (inflatable pump, lights, stereo, etc...). I noticed that when this happens the voltage is in the 12-12.5 and while limping back to the dock on one engine the voltage will begin to climb up closer to 13, once it does that the port engine will start and then everything runs fine (check engine light did come on briefly). I'm not sure if I'm barking up the wrong tree or not here, but it seems like when the battery voltage is lower than optimal the port engine has issues starting even though the other engine is fine.

Has anyone had a similar experience or any advise on what might be going on here? any help or potential things to inspect would be greatly appreciated.

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

So the voltage in the start battery is 12.5? Or the house battery?
Is the dvsr working properly?
Do you have an on board battery charger?
How old is the start battery?
Did you try using the emergency parallel switch?
Have you checked the battery connections?

 

[jdbakerucf]

So the voltage in the start battery is 12.5? Or the house battery?
Is the dvsr working properly?
Do you have an on board battery charger?
How old is the start battery?
Did you try using the emergency parallel switch?
Have you checked the battery connections?

both batteries were in the 12.5 range.
Not sure about the DVSR, any idea how I would be able to tell if there was an issue with it?
no to the on board battery charger for the start/house batteries (I have always relied on the engines to charge those)
boat is a 2019 and I believe they are the original batteries (no date sticker on them to verify)
I totally forgot about/didn't think about using the emergency switch until after I got back to the dock
yes, checked battery connections. no issues there, no loose wires, no corrosion

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

both batteries were in the 12.5 range.
Not sure about the DVSR, any idea how I would be able to tell if there was an issue with it?
no to the on board battery charger for the start/house batteries (I have always relied on the engines to charge those)
boat is a 2019 and I believe they are the original batteries (no date sticker on them to verify)
I totally forgot about/didn't think about using the emergency switch until after I got back to the dock
yes, checked battery connections. no issues there, no loose wires, no corrosion

-On the dvsr there is a small red LED indicator light that shows when it is closed and the start and house batteries are paralleled. The DVSR closes at 13.2 volts and opens at 12.7 volts.

-FWIW, you need to put the house and start on a good battery charger such as a NOCO genius 10x2 or MinnKota PC220. The engines do not make very much excess current beyond supporting the operating needs. The engines will charge the batteries to some extent, but not properly. Over time the battery plates will become sulphated, and while the voltage may look okay at rest, when you go to use them the voltage will fall a lot when the plates are sulphated. The fact that the one engine starts readily sort of indicates to me that there is an issue with the one engine, but the fact it starts up when voltage reaches 13 volts makes me think battery.

You could always pull the start battery out and have it load tested. And if you are relying on the connext screen for your voltage reads, that could be a false reading and the voltage is actually lower than indicated. I base that on the fact that my boat the connext screen reads .4 volts lower when I put a Fluke multimeter on.

When was the last time you put a set of spark plugs in the troublesome engine and or the good engine?
Do both engines start up first thing when they are cold?
Have you been running any type of fuel system cleaner?

-On the engines there are a couple of sets of wires coming off the stator area… on set, the green ones are the output from the generator, there is another one that should be from the pick up that triggers the ignition. There are others like the one ton top of the valve cover and that is the cam position sensor. I would suggest pulling the connectors apart and look at the pins to see if there is any corrosion. Might not be a bad idea to spray them out with some electrical contact cleaner like CRC Lectra motive to make sure they are clean. You could also add some dielectric grease to the inside of these connectors before putting them together. Looks like you are in FLA and are running in salt water?

There is also the clean out tray hatch kill switches. Make sure these are not loose, and or make sure the hatch is not loose when it is latched closed.