The bad weather on the Hibiscus Coast delayed weekend work on sorting the motor. Had the opportunity this
afternoon for about an hour before heading out to a BBQ. Found split heat shrink around the HT crimp at the +ve
terminal of the battery isolating switch. T ok the spilt heat shrink off. The crimp looks secure with a bit of green
muck on the exposed copper wire. The HT cables are marine grade.Then decided to remove the fly wheel
cover and try turning the shaft after disconnecting the battery and removing the spark plugs. The shaft seems easy to turn over. I was supprised at what the spark plug looked like. Its a BUZHW-2 NGK Surface Discharge Spark Plug. Never seen a spark plug like it before in my 60 years, 17 cars and 3 outboards.(Up until now a local service agent has done all servicing on motor, Once I had removed all 3 spark plugs and found they all looked the same I realised that normal the electrodes that form the cap had not corroded away but were all part of the Surface Dsicharge Spark Plug design. I cleaned these up and placed them back in the respective cylinders. I connected the hose to the engine flush tube, turned the water on, connected the +ve HT cable from my battery booster to the +ve side of the starter motor (with boat battery disconnected). The -ve HT cable from my battery booster was connected to the -ve cable which is normally connected onto the -ve battery terminal.. Once the booster was switched on, the motor turned over freelyand when the ignition key was turned on, the motor roared into life. However, I could not repeat the start a 2nd time. Instead, on the 2nd attempt to start the motor, the HT leads became very warm and the motor would not crank over. At this stage I had to pack up and attend a BBQ so issue not solved although it looks like a faulty starter motor.
Regards Herd.