This is an '89 RS w/ a 350 and an '88 TPI setup. I'll start the car....drive somewhere, and when I go to start the car back up, nothing happens. Sometimes the starter clicks, but most the time it does nothing...when i turn the key, I get power, and the gauges go up, but engine does not turn over. If I let it sit a few hours, it'll start. But if i dont drive anywhere, I car start it and restart it all day...no problems...it's just after I drive and it warms up. The starter and battery are new, alternator is less than a year old, all have been tested and are fine. All wires and fusible links "look" fine. This may help...the day it happened, I put on the new starter, drove an hour and a half somewhere, cut it off, and it wouldn't restart. I took a look under the hood and noticed that the pos. battery cable had burned through to the wires on the headers...i assumed it did that on my drive because I'd never noticed it before. This why I think the fusible links may be at fault....at least i hope that's it and not the ignition switch. Fusible links and ignition switch are the only 2 things I can think of. Please help guys. Gimme any ideas, and tell me how to check for possibilities. thanks a lot

If it is the igniton switch....my car is an '89 so it has vats...my key has a chip in it. Well the TPI setup and computer is an '88 so it's it doesn't have VATS. So if I have to replace the ignition switch, do I have to get one set up w/ vats (yellow wire, chip in key), or can I get a regular igniton switch? thanks.

 

This may not help you one bit, but it's something that happened to me in a previous car. I found that it wasn't an electrical fault at all. The car was overheating. The pistons, being a different metal to that of the cylinders, were swelling up and, in effect, siezing the engine solid until it had cooled down and the pistons shrunk again.

Just something that popped into my head while I was reading the post.

Si

 

you didnt say if the starter tries to turn over the engine or not.... if it doesnt, I'll bet the starter is getting heat soaked from the exhaust pipe under it.

 

You might be right then, Eternal

Si

 

Well I put on the heat shield from jegs (flexible aluminized one)....didnt work. I put it on, started the car, let it idle until it got to about 170*...shut it off....wouldn't start back up. I'm so disgusted w/ my car right now. I go back to college in 12 days and need to get this fixed. If anyone's got any ideas lay em on me....if i cant get this fixed, my car is going to the dealership (i've never had any car of mine in a shop). thanks guys.

 

ok lets get this strait..... the theory of the engine "seizing" is possible, I guess the most direct way to make sure of it would to try to turn the crank pulley when its hot. you would probly have to get a breaker bar and such on the crank.

 

That's a good idea. Also, try taking the thermostat out, allowing the coolant to run freely around the engine. That should stop it from getting up to temperature. Drive around like normal and then see if it'll restart.

If it works, test the thermostat while it's out of the car.

Si

 

I've been reading through the archives, and everyone that's had "heat soak" has said that their car wont start back for 30 minutes or so....well mine wont start back for 3-4 hrs...what's up w/ that?!?!?!

 

Even with the heat shield from Summit, you may have fried the starter enough that it's now too weak to turn the engine with a minimal amount of heating. Replace the starter, reinstall the shield and you should be all set. Had the same problem, replaced the starter and I've been fine with mine for over 4 years now.

Ed

 

My car did this one a lot a while back. Turns out the starter relay went bad. I replaced it and it hasn't done it since. It's located behind the drivers side kick panel.

 

I didn't know there was a starter relay? If it was the relay that went bad...wouldn't it act up all the time rather than just when it's hot? But like i said, I didn't even know there was a starter relay, so i'll check it out...thanks.

 

took my car to the dealership...they said it was the ignition switch....replaced it, DIDN"T solve my problem. Go figure. I'm gonna try the starter relocation kit from jegs/summit.

 

Thats what I thought, til i changed it out.

 

and u said it's behind the kick panel on the driver side? Does it look like any other relay under the hood? i wanna know exactly what it looks like cause I have a snake's nest down there w/ alarm and such. thanks

 

I put the remote solenoid from jegs on a little while ago....piece of cake. I mounted it on the inner fender right next to the overflow tank, towards the battery/headlights. Drove about 45 minutes...came back home....fired right up!!!! I just can't explain how happy I am. A fix for $25 dollars. I just wish I had tried it earlier rather than trying a bunch of other things. Thanks for your help guys.