Starter heat soak

[davette59]

• I have talked about this before but I think I found the cause. I thought it was the exhaust manifold on my Avanti that was heating up the starter solenoid and causing it not to start after the engine got warm. After looking at it closer, there is a metal heat shield below the manifold between it and the solenoid plus there appears to be enough room for some air circulation. I did find out however that the header pipe coming off the manifold is within about two to three inches of the end of the starter. I actually think it is the starter that is overheating. Has anyone ever used that lava heat wrap tape that you can wrap around the exhaust pipe? It is supposed to be for wrapping headers and can stand about 2500 degrees. I wonder if this would protect the starter from too much heat?

[55 56 PREZ 4D]

Do a search for battery cables and "hotstart" problems.

[StudeRich]

Small Blocks have a huge HISTORY of overheated Solenoids that have to be rapped with a hammer or cooled with Ice to start, very common due to the Starter mounted, old fashioned plunger type Solenoid.

[showbizkid]

Let's talk about symptoms first. What happens when you turn the key? Is it simply silent, or does the starter try to turn and stop?

[davette59]

Sometime when hot it just barely turns over like the timing was way off. Other times it just clicks slightly like the battery was almost dead. I let it sit for about a half hour and it started. This only happens when the engine is hot. When it is cold it cranks right up.
to answer your question, it tries to turn most of the time when hot except the other day it only clicked and didn't turn over when hot. Again, no problem when cold.

[showbizkid]

OK, there could be a couple things going on here.

First, as said above, battery cables that haven't had their connections renewed in a while can contribute to hot start problems. To address this, pull the cables from the battery and their terminals at the block and on the solenoid, clean 'em up real nice and put on a coat of dielectric grease before reassembly. Also do the same for the short cable from the solenoid to the starter connection stud.

If this eliminates the trouble, you're home free! Corrosion can do a lot of funny things to electrical flow.

If the problem still occurs:
- When things are hot and the starter won't spin, turn the ignition key on and use a jumper cable to directly connect the battery-in to the starter-out studs on the solenoid. If the starter then spins and the car starts, your solenoid is bad. Replace it.
- If you try to jump the solenoid as described above and nothing happens, your starter has an open winding; heat causes the gap in the winding to widen and not pass current. Take it out and have your local auto electric company rebuild it.

DO NOT LOSE the special starter bolts! They've got a unique shoulder length and are essential in locating the starter properly in relation to the ring gear. If you use regular bolts, you'll chew up your flywheel

Good luck!

[davette59]

Replacing or rebuilding the starter will be my last option. In looking at it, it will be a real bear to try to remove. I laid under the car and looked at it and went into a deep sweat. I think this would be difficult, to say the least, with the car on a lift. But crawling under it with it up on floor jacks near impossible. Maybe a little easier when I was 20, but not now. I will try the cables and wrapping the exhaust and starter first and if that fails, I'm willing to pay a mechanic to replace it with me buying a starter of my choice. No more big projects with me laying on my back any more. Dirt in my eyes, arms aching from arthritis, sliding out every half hour to take a leak and my bifocals getting fogged up and sliding down my nose. Getting a stiff neck from trying to look through the bottom of the bifocals isn't much fun either. Just kidding (a little) but you young guys will deal with it some day.
I love this forum and the great guys that are always willing to help. There are other forums that I have visited and some of the people are really insulting if they think you have asked a stupid question. Not so on this forum (so far anyway).
also, no guy from India telling me to shut my car down and re-start it.

[autoradiotech]

By chance you don't have your ground cable under an exhaust manifold bolt, do you? Common mistake, with the heat and cool cycles after time passes they build up rust and corrosion. If you have it grounded there, remove and clean 'till shiny then find a bolt on the head or block and remove rust, paint, and corrosion and ground there.

[Corvanti]

i agree with what Clark (and others) have said...

with having a Avanti and 3 Corvettes, the first thing to check are grounds and ground cable/wires for corrosion. if nothing seen, add some temporary ground wire(s) from the problem areas to a good ground - probably on the frame.

cheap, fast and easy ways to rule out other problems.

[55 56 PREZ 4D]

Carefully inspect the cables at the terminals. Corrosion INSIDE the cable will not be obvious but will be a big problem.
New, correct size cables are available and inexpensive.
Install the ground on a starter mounting bolt.