my starter was having problems, when it got real hot it wouldn't crank & I never heard the solenoid hit. I'm going to go ahead and replace the solenoid, but when I looked down at the diodes in the starter, 2 of the 4 were worn ALL the way down, the other 2 are of equal wear and have fair life left. would those 2 worn one's cause a problem? where would I get new diodes?

 

There's no "diodes" in a starter.

Those are brushes. You get them at an auto parts store (with them being auto parts and all....). They're like $3 a set.

Don't bet on that fixing your starter.

 

eh, maybe that was the alternator with diodes.

I wasn't sure if auto stores carried them, I mean they can't carry everything. I went to 3 hardware stores yesturday for hardware & no one had a 5" washer.

not expecting it to fix it, but maybe give it more torque (as it hardly cranks, not battery related).

thanks though man, I'll pick up some brushes tomorrow.

 

The way to fix hot-start problems on our cars (or any GM V8) is with a starter relay. The power wire (or is it the ground?) from the battery to the starter has to travel a long way, thru the key circuit and the dash. It drops a lot of voltage in this journey, and by the time it gets to the starter, you could be looking at less than 9 volts. Wire up a relay (you'll have to search around to find the directions), and the key now turns on the relay, which will send full 12 volt power to the starter solenoid. I now have no problems with hot starts, even in 100+ degree weather.

 

Just did the remote starter relay on the Camaro last week for the same reason. I'm losing 2 volts through the starter and another volt through the neutral safety switch, leaving 9 volts at the starter solenoid. It hadn't been a problem until this year, I blamed it on the Autozone solenoid I put in last summer, so I got a NAPA starter solenoid this spring - problem got worse. Put in a new NAPA ignition switch - no better to slightly worse.

The remote starter relay moves all of the wires currently on the starter solenoid to the remote relay, up out of the way of the heat (strut tower worked for me). The battery cable goes onto one of the large terminals of the relay along with the large lug vehicle power wire, and the small lug wire goes to the small terminal of the relay. Another battery-cable sized cable is run from the other large terminal of the remote solenoid to the battery terminal of the starter solenoid. A bus bar is run between the battery terminal of the starter solenoid to the R terminal of the starter solenoid. When the ignition switch is turned to the start position, the remote relay kicks in (takes less voltage than the starter solenoid, and it doesn't get as hot - when a solenoid gets hot, it takes more voltage to get it to work), sending full battery voltage to the starter solenoid to kick it in.

Haven't had a hot-start problem since, including today when I was in stop & go traffic and made several errand stops along the way, with engine temp over 220 degrees - a week ago, I would have been under the hood jumping the starter at every stop.

But. . .

Have the starter in good shape before you put it back in.

 

i've never done the starter relay thing, but throw that piece of junk away, i would never waste time opening that paper weight up, my 305 would never start hot, even with a rebuilt autozone starter, i installed a high torque mini starter and it's never skipped a beat again, fires right up everytime

 

Same here. I'll NEVER EVER AGAIN spend another DIME on one of those stupid Stone Age Delco direct-drive starters. You can't imagine how much better your car would start, with something designed since .... oh, let's say ..... 1950.

 

Of course those two brushes would cause a problem. The thing that was throwing me off, was the extention and socket. Couldn't figure out where they would go in the starter. "Lightbulb" I just replaced my four brushes. Less than $3 from an alternator/starter rebuilder shop in my area. Also, I took apart the solonoid, as I wanted the original design, and turn the contacts around. Also cleaned up the ring connection with sand paper. Can't see going through all the trouble of adding a relay when the car didn't come with it and it wasn't designed into the car. The thing you have to watch is the brushes are one way installed. When you get them in wrong it's easy to see. Very easy to do if you were able to disasseble it by yourself, you're half way there. The solonoid can be replaced, but disassebly is not that hard. The nut to the extension needs to be removed, and then the two mounting screws. Once apart, the two nuts holding the internal contacts are removed and then rotated. You'll be able to see that one side will be worn and the other like new. Then clean the contact ring and reasseble. The commutator will need to be sanded and the groves between them will need to be cleaned. If you're stumped at this point, take all the parts to a starter/alternator repair shop in your area. Cost should be reasonable. But you CAN DO IT yourself.

 

True, one of the main purposes of the Board is to insure we all keep our cars exactly the way they were when they were originally designed. . .

Having said that, I did find on my "other" car that remote relays and permanent magnet (mini) starters are not always compatible. Seems the starter motor is kept turning by the engine after it starts, turning the motor into a generator, which puts a voltage back on the starter solenoid, which keeps it engaged in the spinning flywheel/flexplate, which generates voltage in the motor...

That's why I had the remote solenoid available to install. It might be stone-age, but installing something I had in the garage attic to make the stone age technology work reliably was a lot less out-of-pocket than buying a ministarter to replace it. Even if I didn't have it in the attic, the relay is a lot less expensive than a mini. And, "all that trouble" was less than an hour (admittedly, I had dropped the starter to drop the pan, but even if I hadn't, it would have taken about an hour to install by itself).

 

Technically every starter is a generator. Those brushes and those commutators are there for a reason.... the commutator spins, the brushes rubbed against the commutator and makes a rectifier. But not every starter serves as a generator even though it could. weird huh?
This is why I am a technician and not an engineer lol

 

uhhhhhhh would that be a major problem if the brushes were installed the other way? I only had 1 of the 4 installed right, but the others were still alligned so I left them that way. I sanded the brass ring. It's already back in the car and everything worked, though it makes an "awesome" whine when I start it.

 

It's just the amount of contact surface. Eventually they will wear into the comutator. The whine I'm not sure, could be teeth contact gap, too much or too little, or maybe bearing/bushing wear.

 

If the commutator is glazed, the brushes will have no generation properties and could even cause fire.. The commutator should be dull, if it looks like its been clear coated get rid of it period.