Eating Starter Solenoids

[hotroddr]

Originally Posted by 67L30WGN

Did you ground to the block or the frame? I'm assuming the starter makes good contact with the block already.

I ran a ~2 gauge ground straight from one of the two starter bolts to the frame

[Longhorn Man]

while the way your coil and starter are wired is not correct, this is not your problem at all.

[Shyguy]

Point distributors have 12 volts as long as the key is in the start mode and once it starts the voltage is dropped down to 9v via the restistor wire.

Hei distributors work best with 12v.

Old farmers hook a heavy ground wire to one of the starter mounting bolts. I have done it on many tractors.

[67L30WGN]

I guess I'm at the point where I need straighten out the wiring and then try several the above. Solenoid/starter brand recommendations are welcome.

Originally Posted by Longhorn Man

while the way your coil and starter are wired is not correct, this is not your problem at all.

If you were a betting man, would you think bad ground (all my block to firewall ground straps are in place), or would you guess this is due to crappy solenoids, or maybe even crappy starters?

[Longhorn Man]

Assuming your ground cable is in good condition, and tightly bolted to the engine on a fairly clean paint free spot (honestly, it doesn't need to be on a perfectly clean spot) then your ground path is perfectly fine, and all the other grounds (including your starter to frame cable) won't matter at all on this issue. They will help the rest of the truck, but not this one issue.
I tend to lean towards crappy starter assemblys. Parts sore starters, to include NAPA reman'd ones, flat out suck these days. I would recomend a ministarter

[67L30WGN]

Okay. Thanks Longhorn. I respect your input.

A ministarter once cured another problem I had with a 1970 Monte Carlo SS454 I owned. The slight kick back from the big block would break regular starters left and right. I finally fixed the problem once and for all when I switched to a ministarter. Much easier to install, too.

My last observation (clue?) is that the solenoid end of my purple wire is pretty cooked. The wire casing has turned brown, brittle and cracked for the last two inches. Could that be creating a problem?

[hotroddr]

Could your truck possibly be running lean? If its lean your exhaust manifolds could be getting red hot and no matter what else you fix on the starter wiring you will still keep cooking them. Do you experience a surge while you are cruising at a constant speed, this would indicate a lean condition.

[67L30WGN]

Originally Posted by hotroddr

Could your truck possibly be running lean? If its lean your exhaust manifolds could be getting red hot and no matter what else you fix on the starter wiring you will still keep cooking them. Do you experience a surge while you are cruising at a constant speed, this would indicate a lean condition.

As a matter of fact, yes, it periodically surges at idle or at constant speeds. In fact, my original passenger side exhaust manifold recently cracked almost all the way around the main exit tube. I'm running an Edelbrock Performer carb tuned per instruction sheet, but haven't taken the time to really dial it in. It was on the to-do list because of the surge. Heat, carb, cracked manifold, hot start problem...I think you're on to something!!! Thanks, Hotroddr.

[67L30WGN]

Follow up and final analysis:
Longhorn was dead on, and Hotroddr helped. To rule everything else but the starter out, I replaced all the incorrect and cooked wiring with a new wiring harness, retuned the carb to address the added heat from the lean burn situation and replaced the solenoid and cracked exhaust manifold.

The occasional click of the solenoid remained. With everything else straightened out, it had to be the starter, just as Longhorn said.

This time, instead of another NAPA starter, I installed a Powermaster 3510 OEM style, high torque starter and solenoid combo from a speed shop, and I got rid of the heat shield. Knock on wood, no more failed solenoids due to arcing at the disc. In fact the truck turns over effortlessly in a manner never realized with the NAPA starters.

Conclusion: I can no longer count on regular old parts store replacement starters.

NAPA is still my first choice, but I don't mind saying I'm disappointed because with this latest experience combined with a couple of other similar ones, it seems their quality is going the way of the other newer chain stores. Pretty sad as they are one of the last of the old school stores.