[HopkinsChevelle]

Several times i have taken my chevelle out and driven for awhile, long enough for it to come up to full temp. If i stop somewhere and turn it off often times it doesnt want to start. Most times it will crank slowly then eventually slow down to nothing. it acts like the battery is dead but ive checked that after comming home and its fully charged.

The car has headers and i am aware of the headers heating up the starter. Is that what this is? Or do i have some kind of wiring problem. Usually it seems once the engine cools down it always starts as normal.

 

[OutCast]

Anthony,

Once your engine is up to temp, all the different metals have expanded and created tighter tolerances....higher compression.

That poor little starter is trying like mad to start it, but it's just too tight. You may want to try a shroud for your starter, or a higher output starter. Common problem when things get hot.

John

 

[HopkinsChevelle]

I thought about the compression too. Ill have to shop around for a starter. Its around 10-1 as it is. sounds like my diagnosis was right just wanted confirmation

 

[jtm60]

verify your timing.

 

[Xtreme70SS396]

A positive or ground cable that's going bad will also do the same thing. New cable solved my problem, old one was corroding about and inch inside from the starter terminal.

 

[rbwjr325]

Fresh motor,tol. too tight will do same thing.

 

[loco_chevelle]

i had the same problem, i just made sure my ground cable was at a good ground source,cleaned both terminals and walla problem fixed, unfortunatly i went thru 2 months of guess work to find problem

 

[Pate]

I also had a problem starting after the engine was up to running temp. I added a couple of different types of heat shields, but never had them work. I changed to a mini starter and never had a problem again. My car has a 454 with headers BTW.

 

[HopkinsChevelle]

The engine maybe has 500 miles on it. Im sure its probably still a little tight. And i have my battery relocated to the trunk. Maybe i should check my ground cable too.

Thanks for the advice. Just glad i had the right idea about what was wrong.

 

[Jerry70]

And i have my battery relocated to the trunk. Maybe i should check my ground cable too.

If you didn't use a larger guage cable when the battery was moved farther from the starter that could be the problem.

 

[lowflyer]

Just another thought to throw in here: make sure you have a good ground cable from your frame to your engine block. If you put the batt. in the trunk, most likely you grounded the batt at the frame. Now the current has to get though the rubber engine mounts to get to the starter.

Also, like suggested, sometimes the cables will corrode inside the sleeve and you can't tell from just looking at the exposed ends. If your cables are new, or known good, then I would say the starter is getting heat soaked. Good luck.

 

[magisnyc]

Another thing to try is a remote solonoid for the starter (like Fords). If you have headers, the solonoid on the starter gets heat soaked and will give you problems like you're describing. M.A.D sells a kit for this or you can easily get one from NAPA or Autozone and run the wiring yourself. Basically all you have to do is shunt the connections on the starter and run the fat cable from the starter up to the remote solonoid. The battery cable connectes to the other side of the solonoid and you have the trigger from the key crank.

very simple setup and it will take care of the problem. Also gives you a nice junction point in case you need a battery or ignition connection.

 

[Chuck]

If this is a heat soak problem, the starter will NOT engage...so if the starter is engaging that is not the problem. If it just "clicks" it's heat soak.

Before anything else is done, check the main ground to the chassis. As things heat up and expand they require more current to do the same job. A bad gound will work OK, then fail under heat. (Ohm's Law).

Chuck

 

[bochnak]

Several times i have taken my chevelle out and driven for awhile, long enough for it to come up to full temp. If i stop somewhere and turn it off often times it doesnt want to start. Most times it will crank slowly then eventually slow down to nothing. it acts like the battery is dead but ive checked that after comming home and its fully charged.

The car has headers and i am aware of the headers heating up the starter. Is that what this is? Or do i have some kind of wiring problem. Usually it seems once the engine cools down it always starts as normal.

I have the same problem. It started after I set the timing from 0° to 16° initial.

I am currently upgrading my old "big" style starter and 4Ga battery cables to a high torque mini from www.dbelectrical.com and welding 1/0 Ga cables. Also, I am moving the ground from the alternator bracket to engine block. I hope it does the trick.

It does not help with your battery in the trunk. Check you connections and initial timing.

A remote solenoid will only cure the "click" or "nothing at all" heat soak issue.

 

[HopkinsChevelle]

I bought a kit off ebay for the relocation. I would imagine the cabels would be sufficiant. I did put a ground from the block to the frame. and i have a ground from the trunk to the frame.

And it does engage so must not be a heat soak thing. Maybe ill have to retighten my grounds again.

 

[charbilly2001]

Anthony,

Once your engine is up to temp, all the different metals have expanded and created tighter tolerances....higher compression.

That poor little starter is trying like mad to start it, but it's just too tight. You may want to try a shroud for your starter, or a higher output starter. Common problem when things get hot.

John

<coughbull****cough>

The difference between cold and hot with respect to compression is negligible at best.

Additionally if it were ONLY an issue of compression it would only hit the starter on the first compression stroke. After that the engine is compressing a charge while simultaneously uncompressing a charge. They somewhat cancel each other out.

The real issue is likely to be electrical. Either he has a bad negative OR positive connection somewhere OR his starter has crapped out. I am betting that he's got a bad connection. The factories have produced some pretty high compression engines over the years all of which had no starting issues when they were new.

 

[davis95]

I had the same problem and it turned out to be vapor lock.

 

[rcrchsr16]

Did you say the battery is new? If not, I'd have the battery checked UNDER LOAD. Most good auto parts stores have load testers to check it for free. What could be wrong is that you could have one dead cell in the battery, where it's strong enough to start a cold engine but cannot start a hot one. It's a cheap way to start looking into the problem and after all, the battery IS the heart of the starting system.
You also might need what the guys have said above, like grounds and starter insulation from heat, etc.. You might also think about using a high strand count welding wire for your lead from the trunk to the starter. It worked great for my race cars with trunk mounted batteries.

 

[HopkinsChevelle]

yeah the battery is new. Im not sure how many cranking amp it has but it was as high as i could get from what i remember. Ill probably check my grounds next. havent had time to mess with it since i originally posted