All,

I had quite a bit of work done to my car the past few months (87 GTA 305) which included a serpentine setup which include a different alternator I also took that time to do a AC delete. I also needed to replace my starter which Im guessing is part of the problem im having. Also to not my timing is a little advanced so the initial crank of the start has always needed to be a bit stronger.

So during a warm start the car will not start its almost like a dead battery....but only on a warm start. I found the wire going from the negative terminal to the chassis is getting so hot its melting. I was thinking perhaps the new starter or alternator is different enough that the draw on the negative to the chassis gauge wire is to small to handle this. I thought about increasing the gauge of the wire and see if things are any better though Im worried I might just send the problem to another smaller gauge wire that isnt so obvious to find.

Im not very good when it comes to electrical problems so im kind of at a loss....any suggestions?

Thanks,
Mike

 

There should be a big cable going directly from the batt (-) terminal to somewhere on the engine, to carry the heavy current demanded by the starter.

In this case, the smaller chassis ground cable is being forced to carry the starter current because the big cable is missing or has a bad connection. It is being overloaded.

 

Thanks for the reply....ill trace the wire back and look at the connections. Any idea why it only happens on a warm start?

 

Metal expands with increasing temperature. Thus a bad connection can get worse with increasing temperature. I've seen it before, it is not a rare problem.

Definitely check the big cable going to the front of the engine block. Remove it, clean it well, replace it. Check the negative terminal on the battery as well. If it's an aftermarket one, check the connection of the wire to the terminal too.

Hope this helps.
Lou

 

That was it, thanks alot guys!

 

Thanks for letting us know. It will help other members when they find your thread in a search.

Which side of the cable was it? (if you have that information)

Lou

 

It was on the engine side, though I took both sides off and really gave them a good cleaning. Like you said, any members that may have this problem in the future dont rely just on the multi meter like I did, It always read fine but when it came time for the crank it wasnt strong enough.

Thanks again.