Starter Problems

barrym69 · Jul 23, 2008

I hope someone can help me.
I purchased a 1967 chevelle pro street sedan and i am having starting problems. The battery has been relocated to the trunk. I have a remote selonoid on the firewall. (dont know how old this is or how long it has been in the car). The battery is in the trunk with 4 gauge negative wire running to the frame for ground. I have a 4 gauge positive wire running to a on/off switch on the back panel. From the on/off switch there is a 2 gauge cable running to the remote selonoid. from the remote selonoid there is a 4 gauge cable running down to the starter. The car seems to crank slow when it is cold. (slower than i think it should). When I run the car to operating temp. and shut down she wont start. I have to leave it sit for about 20 mins before the starter will turn the motor. The one thing I noticed is that the remote selonoid is getting extremely hot and smells like it is burning up. Today i was bringing the car up to TDC with a remote starter button and the remote selonoid (cable side running down to the starter) was so hot that me finger actually stuck to it when I touched it. It was like touching a header. I am thinking that maybe the selonoid is going bad? i dont think the remote selonoid should get that hot that quick.
If anyone has an idea of what may be the problem or can give me some things to try i would greatly appreciate it.
Thanks
Barry

d1_bradley · Jul 23, 2008

Is this using an "original" type starter or a mini? And, I'm assuming it has headers??

barrym69 · Jul 23, 2008

Dave,
It has a hi torque mini starter. It does have headers. From what i can gather from the guy i bought the car from, the problem has just recently started. The car operated fine prior to this problem. He had suggested changing the battery cables to larger ones. I dont think that is the whole problem if the car was working fine before. The car does not crank very fast when it is cold. When you try to start it for the first time (motor cold) it cranks slow. I checked timing and everything looks to be right on. that is why I was wondering if it is the remote selonoid on the firewall. It gets extremely hot and I dont know if this is normal. You can smell it. It is on the side that the cable runs from the remote selonoid down to the starter that gets so hot.
Thanks
Barry

onovakind67 · Jul 23, 2008

Re: starting problems (Remote selonoid?)

I would start by increasing the wire size to at least a 0 throughout the main circuit. I would also run the cable direct to the starter from the shutoff switch and get the remote relay out of the main circuit. If you have hot start problems, use a remote relay to control the GM solenoid current, no need to switch the main current in two places.

Dean · Jul 23, 2008

"extremely hot and smells like it is burning up" is always an indication of a bad electrical connection.

Sounds like the remote is not passing full voltage to the starter under load OR possibly the starter is drawing way too much current.

Dave Hopkins · Jul 23, 2008

Re: starting problems (Remote selonoid?)

What onova said!
I will add that when I had a battery in the trunk I used welding cables! May have been the same as ) gauge, my current rig has 2 gauge and I know the welding cable was bigger than 2!

Starter Problems

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