[Ian Brooks Posts: 3551 Status: Offline]

I'm thinking that perhaps it would be better to do away with the ignition switch and fit a couple of marine grade toggle switches, one on/off for the coils and the other a momentary switch for the two solenoid wires.


What are your thoughts on this?

PowerPoint Presentation (vanguardpower.com)

The Briggs switch will likely outlast said toggle switches.

[Philip Posts: 2436 Status: Offline 12" above the Earth's surface WWW]

The Briggs switch isn't that bad, I wouldn't bother with the hassle of chay things

[Al Posts: 881 Status: Offline WWW]

I was looking at the wiring diagram for the ignition system on the vanguard.  The weak link seems to be the original Briggs & Stratton ignition switch that was fitted, The switch looks cheap and doesn't inspire much confidence in it's long term reliability.


I'm thinking that perhaps it would be better to do away with the ignition switch and fit a couple of marine grade toggle switches, one on/off for the coils and the other a momentary switch for the two solenoid wires.


What are your thoughts on this?

PowerPoint Presentation (vanguardpower.com)

[Al Posts: 881 Status: Offline WWW]

I managed to get the brush housing out of the end cap,  Wiped the brushes off & put a little grease on the brush springs.  I put it back together and tried with jump leads.  Starter bendix flies out when the electrical spade tab is touched with the live.  Touch the bolt terminal where the copper braided wire goes into the starter motor and the starter spins very fast.  Next job is to connect the starter to the wires in the hovercraft and see if it still works.

[John Robertson Posts: 5136 Status: Offline WWW]

The end cap usually has a couple of screws that hold the internal brush assembly in place ( NOT the long screws that hold the entire body together).  You won't be able to remove the brush assembly without de-soldering the main windings but the cap should come off giving easy access to the brushes.  More than likely a set are jammed with gunk.  When assembling there are two holes in the cap through which you insert a short rod/pin to hold the brushes back into their housing so the stator can be assembled without damage.
  I suspect this engine has been soaked for some time - the water in the carb and the starter are signs of that.  water gets into the carb bowl through the atmospheric vent in the carb (sometimes its inside the intake throat but if you pour water into the intake or over the engine its very likely some will get into the bowl and it'll accumulate there.

[Al Posts: 881 Status: Offline WWW]

It just seem like this Marlin is chucking one problem after another at me 


I have sorted the fuel issue and fitted a water /fuel separator filter, I went to try and start it and all I get is the solenoid engaging noise and engine not wanting to turn over.  I checked all the connections and everything OK.


So I removed the starter motor and used a different battery & a set of jump leads to see if the starter worked.  The solenoid engages and the Bendix wheel on the end flies out, but it doesn't spin.  I've partially stripped the starter motor and the main shaft/copper windings thingy spin freely by hand which sends the Bendix wheel out, so that seems to be free & OK, so I'm suspecting it to be an electrical issue.


I can't seem to get the bit with brushes in out of the end of the starter and not sure why?


Looking into the brush's housing there seems to be 4 brushes, 2 of which protrude quite a way & the other 2 only protrude a couple of mm's.  As I said I am unable to get this bit out of the starter end cap to investigate it properly, but I'm suspecting this is where the problem lies.


Anyone had any experience with stripping these starter motors down.


I'm thinking that I'll probably have to buy a new starter motor, which seem to be priced at around £150  [size=78%]  [/size]