Hi all,
1988 trans am with a tpi 350. starts perfect when cold but when engine warms up to about 190 starter never engages again until after a while. I looked up this painless hot start relay that is suppose to boost amperage to the starter to sovle thi sproblem. I have two questions.

Is this the fix that Im looking for?

I see that all it is is a 30 amp relay hooked up the the solinoid like any 30 amp relay hooks up to a electric device, could i just go to the junk yard, pull a fan relay or something and do the same think for less than $5 instead of buying the painless hot relay for $30?

 

Yes you could do as you say but the more common ( better ) fix is the standalone Ford style remote starter solenoid that supplies batt power direct to the starter bypassing the starter solenoid contacts altogether

This type
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1965-1973-FO...item5890b2d63d

Also available from junkyard

 

Awesome, my next question was going to be if there was a stronger relay, looking at this it looks like its as strong as it gets. Thanks

 

This switches full battery load.

Install this solenoid in engine bay and cut / rework Pos+ cable from batt to starter so it attaches to the large terminals either side of new solenoid.
Rerun purple starter cable to a small terminal on new solenoid and ground other terminal

At starter ;
move main batt cable ( now from remote solenoid ) to the other large starter solenoid terminal ( the one closest to starter on Delcos , possibly on the stater itself with other types like Denso )
and run a small jumper wire from that terminal to the "S" terminal ( were purple wire came from )

Now when key turned to start;
the remote solenoid closes , sending power direct to the starter ( bypassing the solenoid contacts ) and the link to the S terminal makes the solenoid pull in engaging the gear in the flywheel.

 

or you can go with a smaller starter like one from an lt1 or an aftermarket mini starter to avoid the heat soak issue altogether.

 

Is this a common issue? Mine does something similar when it's hot, it'll engage and try to crank, but sounds like the battery is dead. works fine again once it's cool. I was thinking it could be a bad ground

 

Go with the ford solenoid, you can make the jumper bracket for the starter from a piece of 3/4 copper pipe. You will need another battery cable double eye to go from the starter to the solenoid. You will have to run a #12 wire from
solenoid to the start wire you will take off the starter. I also use a 000 battery ground cable and run another cable from ground (where it bolts to motor) to trans bellhousing close to starter. Sbc have always run into this problem. "Hot starter" it gets heat soaked wont start when hot.
I did this on my TA and camaro and never had the problem again.

 

i wouldnt use a remote solenoid on a starter with a built in solenoid. besides, theres a reason they stopped using those things years ago. you can just get a smaller starter, or wrap the starter you have with insulating material to prevent the heat from getting to it.

 

Upgrade to a Vette mini starter. LT1 years or just a plain good old LT1 Fbody starter. I have heard good things about the 4.3 starter as well.

I am running a Summit pro torque and love it.

 

the lt1 fbody and 4.3 starters are a direct bolt in replacement and are smaller in size and help keep the solenoid away from header heat to help cut down on heat soak. when i did my first engine swap i reused the stock starter and had horrible heat soak issues with it. switched to a power master mini starter and havent had a single problem since. still using that starter on the temp 305 thats in the car now and itll be going right back on the stroker when it goes back in.

 

Common, well maybe, but not exactly. I had hot starter problems arise when I installed the ZZ3. The exhaust header was way too close to the factory starter. I installed a PowerMaster 9000 mini starter to alleviate the problem.



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starter heat soak usualy coinisides with installing headers. but sometimes will happen on stock manifolds when the starter starts wearing out and showing its age.

 

I went through 3 starters (all different brands) in under 3 months due to my shorty headers being too close to the solenoid. The smaller starters were a bit out of my price range at the time, but the remote Ford solenoid did the trick (on a "bad" starter too). ran that way until I sold the car 3 years later