Yanmar GM10 diesel engine refuses to crank over and start

Captain Notty,

Re the Yanmar GM10 on my genset not cranking:

The big hammer idea is quite common it seems?

 http://www.cruisersforum.com/

I will also check the panel out and open up the in line fuse, its not as is my engine has many hours on it, about 450 I guess and nice and clean and dry.

Athol, is this the forum you were talking about?

Folks, I wish engine fault fixes were always as easy as this one, my thanks to 

www.crusisersforum.com 

for hosting and posting the many stories on the problem with Yanmar engine starting.

I used a soft faced copper/leather hammer, it says 1 on it, one Kg I guess?

With the ignition key in the ON position and the start button pressed IN , the soft face of the hammer was knocked onto the side of the solenoid of  the 12v starter motor, the engine soon started to crank and I was able to run the engine up to full temperature for the first time in some months.

Switching the engine off, a restart in the normal manner was possible, the hammer remains on the boat for now!

Note, 24 hours later and the hammer was required again, its time to remove the starter and service the solenoid I think.

Then the next three days and the engine cranked and started on the button each time so maybe not?

Regards,

Roy