Need feedback on starter problems: new starter, or new battery? My symptoms are....

[dougo]

Here's my problem:

recently I've had problems with my burb starting (after driving it for 5 minutes, two miles, or longer periods of time). If I jump back in to start, it turns over - real slow, maybe 3-5 times, but will not start. If I wait for awhile (15 minutes) - it turns over and starts.

Trying to figure out if it's a hot start problem (and starter is going bad) or a battery problem. Used to have headers (now manifolds) - which created hot start problems, so maybe the starter is going bad?

Cold starts - no problem. Burb sits for a week, or two at times. Same thing was happening to a buddy of mine, his problem was the battery (so he thinks it's a battery problem).

I've been wanting to put an AC Delco battery in it - just thinking I might start there, at least I know I will have a fresh, new battery (since I have no idea how old it is, and I usually take road trips and I'm far off the beaten path).

Any thoughts, suggestions?

[LockDoc]

I guess I would start buy taking all of the cables off and cleaning all of the contact surfaces really good, including the ground at the motor and the positive cable at the solenoid. Then fully charge the battery with a battery charger. It does sound like a heat sink problem but I guess it would be compounded if the starter or battery was getting weak...

LockDoc

[angelo_32806]

I have been hunting down the same prob on my 67 for about 6 months
It was the negitive battery cable where it bolted to the motor

[cdowns]

lots of people spend hundreds of dollars chasin electric problems when cleaning the contacts is all that is needed// lots of guys think lookin at connections is good enough. but unless you have xray vision lookin aint checkin as far as good contact is concened

each battery cable has two ends another fact that eludes some people

[Shyguy]

Very good suggestions. I also found that corrosion builds up in the cable inside the insulation.

I recently had similar problems so my fix was to replace the old positive and negative cables. I also cleaned all contact points of the cables.

[DaSchlange]

Could be it, could not be it. The battery I mean. I had the same problem in my '99 old body style truck here a while back. Check with a meter or go to a local parts store and have them check your cranking amps.

[El Jay]

Originally Posted by Shyguy

Very good suggestions. I also found that corrosion builds up in the cable inside the insulation.

I recently had similar problems so my fix was to replace the old positive and negative cables. I also cleaned all contact points of the cables.

I had a similar problem with my Plymouth. I had corrosion between my cable and the terminal that bolted to the block.
Took me over a week to chase that down.

[cparman]

I agree with all of the above. If you have a DVOM, you might do a voltage drop test. One lead on the battery post, and the other on the battery terminal. If you see more than .5 volts it is a bad connection. Might suggest checking the timing as well, too much timing will make an engine drag hot, but might not when cold. IMO, I would do the obvious first. CLEAN every battery connection until shiny, and see what happens.

[dougo]

Thanks for all the suggestions... I'm going to spend some time on it over the weekend. I'll let you know what I find out.

Thanks,
Doug

[Classic Heartbeat]

I would first do like everyone else is suggesting. Clean the terminals and connections. Then use a good electrical grease on them when you hook them back up. If that doesn't solve your problem, then what you are discribing is a heat soak problem with the starter solenoid. Change that and you should be good to go. WES

[ChevLoRay]

Corrosion that builds up within the housing of the battery cables is difficult to see, but it will happen over time.

Heat soak affects the starter solenoid of a hot engine. For my truck, there was never a problem with heat soak until I change intakes and carburetors. Going from an Edelbrock 1405 on an adapter on the stock Q-Jet intake, to an Edelbrock 1901 on an Edelbrock Performer intake....made heat soak an issue. The Q-Jet was so much leaner than the 1405, and that made for a hotter mixture. Put a heat shield on the starter and problem was solved.