Starter Solenoid Balking

[Mel]

Problem first arose a couple of years ago. Car had sat for about an hour on a quite warm day and the amp meter pegged (-) when I tried to restart it. A couple of taps on the solenoid and the car started. I had to make a couple of stops before getting home and it did the same thing once more. New starter and solenoid and the problem was not seen for about another year and a half. About three months ago, the problem arose again. At that point, the battery was at least six years old. (I've had the car for six years and it was the battery in the car when I bought it.) The battery is in the trunk. I replaced the battery and replaced the #4 multistrand ground wire from the battery to the engine with #2 fine stranded copper wire and figured the problem was cured. A couple of days ago, it balked again. I hit the start position on the ignition switch 5-6 times and it then engaged and started.

I'm pretty sure heat is causing the problem. From what I understand, these cars don't have trouble getting heat out of the engine but do have trouble getting the heat out from under the hood.

The starter has the standard heat shield around it but I wonder if someone knows if there is some aftermarket heat shield that is effective.

Is this a problem with the 327/300 motor, in general?

Does the 'Hi Torque' starter work? (I believe these are for the very high compression, racing setups but I'm not certain.)

Thanks for any help.

[Gunslinger]

I have a high torque mini-starter on my car and experienced a similar problem. In my case it turned out the valve cover hold-down bolts has loosened and oil was dripping onto the starter and solenoid creating the heat soak issue. Tightening the bolts stopped the oil dripping but I also added a thermal jacket around the starter as well. No more problems since. There are heat shields you can install as well.

As far as helping underhood heat to leave, there's not a lot you can do but Avanti Motors tried by drilling some holes in the inner fender panels in some cars. How effective that was is an open question. You can add the Saturn air deflector under the front end. It helps to direct more air up to the radiator rather than creating turbulence under the car which may keep engine bay heat from exiting. I have the air deflector under my car and it does help...when sitting and idling it's of no help since there's no airflow to redirect but at speed a definite improvement is there.

[Avanti83]

Wrap the exhaust pipe with DEI thermal wrap.

It will make a large difference. Use two layers by the starter if it still feels hot.

[drat]

I thought i was having heat soak as well. My battery is in the trunk too. I put on a high torque mini, got ceramic coated headers, heat shield, wrapped mid pipes. And started looking at running a duct and venting but decided to check some cheaper ideas first before i cut holes.

Turns out i was having a resistance problem compounding the issue. I installed 0 gauge battery cable, one ground to the center bolt in the spare tire compartment, and one ground strap from the engine to the frame and no more starting heat soak issues. Plus all my lights got a lil brighter.

[drat]

I thought i was having heat soak as well. My battery is in the trunk too. I put on a high torque mini, got ceramic coated headers, heat shield, wrapped mid pipes. And started looking at running a duct and venting but decided to check some cheaper ideas first before i cut holes.

Turns out i was having a resistance problem compounding the issue. I installed 0 gauge battery cable, one ground to the center bolt in the spare tire compartment, and one ground strap from the engine to the frame and no more starting heat soak issues. Plus all my lights got a lil brighter.

[Avanti83]

Agree with drat. In my shot above you can see my battery cables that run from the trunk. I believe they are 0 gauge also. The hot cable runs directly to the starter and the ground cable is connected to the body mount bolt in the trunk (pass side) the frame near the starter (you can see where I removed the insulation at the clamp on the frame) and a tranny to engine mounting bolt. The ground wire is one piece with not joints to corrode from the battery to the engine bolt.

Bob

[warren55]

Wrap the exhaust pipe with DEI thermal wrap.

It will make a large difference. Use two layers by the starter if it still feels hot.

How much of the DEI wrap did you have to use to do all that?

[Avanti83]

How much of the DEI wrap did you have to use to do all that?

Warren

IIRC, I used two 25 ft rolls, one per side. 2" wide

Bob