[Indy Z11]

The 350 in my 69 will not crank over very well when hot. I have tried everything I can think of but nothing seems to help. The first thing I did was to have the battery tested and it was fine. I then had the starter tested and the motor was fine but the solenoid was bad under a high temperature test. A new solenoid was put on but that didn't help. The alternator is working ok too. The car turns over just fine when cold but when it gets hot it cranks very slowly and sometimes the solenoid just clicks. If I start it when cold the battery guage on the console swings way over almost to +40 then eventually goes back over just to the right of the zero. Is this normal? Is it possible that my battery may be bad when hot? Any ideas??

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Larry W.
1969 Z11 Pace Car
My Pace Car

 

[zuma]

Larry, Do you have a heat sheild on the starter? This might help your hot-hard starting problem. Do a search on this site and you'll find more on this topic. Good Luck! Bye the way nice 69 pacecar!

Mike

 

[Jonesy]

I had the same problem. I had headers on my car. The problem was heat on the solenoid. The only way to start it was to take a small screwdriver and jump the solenoid with the key on. I hope the problem will go away with the original manifolds on it this time.

 

[MytMini]

Is your battery fully charged? My 68 was doing the exact same thing and it turned out it just needed a good charge on the battery.

At least this would be cheap to try! lol

Donald
68 SS Convertible

 

[dale68z]

Sounds like a power, or ground problem. #1. If you have the quickei battery cable repair ends, buy new cables!!!! #2 Clean the battery cables, and battery, they should be nice and shiny. #3 clean the spot that the - cable attaches to the block( i did say block, not head, or intake, or alt bracket). If it,s not attached to the block, put it there! #4 check the + cable to solenoid. There are 2 nuts on the sol. + cable lug, make sure both are tight.
All the other suggestions are good, but need to start with the basics. These things have to be covered thoroughly, before any other diagnostics can take place.

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68 z28 ,68 rs 327 ,73 454 vette, 2 goofy kids

 

[HOTRODSRJ]

The problem is the traditional "heat soak" problem. This problem is multiheaded in that it's a combinatin of old wire, old connections, heat induced resistance in the motor, solenoid and wires. Time and heat reduces the conductivity of all the wires and connections.

A fresh and larger battery feed wire to start with new connections as well and a heat shield helps some of the time. Start there if you don't want to go to the next step.

I myself overcame this problem a few years ago by buying nothing but mini starters. They do not heat soak. They require much less current, take up less space, easier on battery, easy to install, and will not fail. I use either Tuffstuff or Powermaster.

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STEVE JACK
ConceptOne Pulleys and Brackets
Northern/Southern Rodder Magazine's "Jack'Stands" author and creator
Techical forum/links at www.inccn.net/techforum.htm