Universal M-18 Starting

[Arthur Herrick]

My m18 used to take 10 seconds of glowing to start cold, and would restart without glowing when being restarted after a 2-3 hour sail. As the boat was 15 years old when I got it, I decided to have the injectors checked by the Universal distributor, Hansen's Marine, in Marblehead, MA.Since then, it has to be glowed for 15 sec. to start cold, and 3-4 sec. after sailing.This sounds like things are worse. The owner's manual says that the engine needs 30 seconds cold, assuming spring/summer temps.Any thoughts?

[Gordon Torresen]

Hansen has an excellent reputation. If they used the right spec sheet, your injectors are probably proper. I'd start by looking in the area just worked on. Did a wire get knocked off one of the glow plugs? Did a glow plug coincidentally fail? Is there a component in the glow plug circuitry that could have a resistance change because of movement, or perhaps a humidity change? You should be able to get back to where you were, but 15 seconds isn't too bad.