My mechanic has been through 3 starters in the past month on my car. The first one lasted half a day, the second one for a week, and the third one for about two and a half weeks... err, actually not even that long because I dont drive this car every day, mainly on weekends. I am getting really tired of getting stranded having to walk or wait for the starter to cool down before I can crank the car again.... and I KNOW he is getting aggrivateed with having to keep replacing this. ( thank god he warranties his work) anyway,... looking for a solution......can anyone offer help or advice ?

Chris

 

What exactly is happening? Does the starter just not kick in when you go to start? Is it only when hot? Does it make funny noises?

Is this the original engine, or has it been swapped in?

 

sounds like heat soak on the starter, try a heat shield around the starter. Jegs sells them.

 

The car does have the original stock 5.7 engine.

When one of the starters went out I didnt get anything when the key turned over. When the most recent starter went out I got a click sound when turning the key over but no start....

In ALL instances of the starters going out they would give me problems when HOT. meaning,.. I can crank cold engine in my driveway and drive for an hour or so but once the car has been running for awhile and I stop and turn the engine off, it wont crank back up. just a click click, then I have to sit and wait about an hour for the car to cool down. Once it cools down the starter kicks in and cranks right up. Kind of like just sit there and try every 15 min or so... very aggrivating.

The most recent starter did fine for a few days , all the driving I wanted to do, then it gave me the "click click" at the gas station after about half a day of running around town.... I waited 15 min, turned the key a few times and on the 8th turn it cranked. I took the car immediately back to my mechanic and it did the "click click" again at his shop. he said its the starter again..

my engine is not overheating or anything....so is the heat coming off the exhaust ? he says it shouldnt be enough heat to ruin starters that fast .... maybe its because they are rebuilt starters ?.. rebuilt should be just as good as a "new" one.. nobody has new anymore anyway, right ? Besides,. 3 in a row ?
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I spoke with Jegs 1800-345-4545 and was told they have two options. reposting for others who may also need this info or part numbers in the future.

1:Starter heatshield $17.99 part # 710-74300 I was told that this is for the "straight bolt" starter, not the offset.

2: For those with offset starter bolt pattern heat wrap for the starter was recomended. part # 555-32000
Along with the heat wrap you will need stainless steel ties to attach the wrap. This sounds to me like that some heat wrap stuff you see on some headers and motorcycle pipes.
shipping is around 11.99 and fedex 2 days.




Chris

 

Yep, sound like heat soak. But, all that means is the starter requires more voltage at hot than it does when it's cool.

V=IR, where V is voltage, I is current (don't ask me how they came up with that), and R is resistance. Magnetic field is a function of current, resistance goes up with temperature. What matters here is that I=V/R. So, what's happening is with a given voltage going to the starter, when resistance is high, current is lower and therefore so is the magnetic field generated in the starter/solenoid windings, and therefore it doesn't have enough umph to kick the starter in/over.

The heat shield may help, but first you should check the voltage the starter is actually getting. The start wire is probably the culprit, as you can get voltage drop across each terminal and switch. Mine was dropping 3 volts from the battery to the solenoid, and that was killing it when hot. I checked & cleaned connections, replaced neutral safety and ignition switches, but it wasn't enough. What I ended up doing is installing a Ford-style remote solenoid, which gives virtually full battery voltage to the solenoid and starter - it's never had an issue since. The remote solenoid both doesn't require as much current to operate, and can be placed where it won't get as hot as the starter does.

 

awesome! thanks for the advice and info. I am going to take this info to him tomorrow .....
Is this remote solenoid your talking about like remote starter ?

Edit: I found this page with instructions on how to do this... Im going to take all of this info to him tomorrow .
http://novaresource.org/starter.htm

thanks again,

Chris

 

No... two different animals. A remote solenoid just moves the starter solenoid from the starter (its the small cylinder on the top of the starter) to a 'remote' location... like on the fenderwell or firewall; somewhere away from the heat of the exhaust. Lots of cars use this setup from the factory - Ford used it for many years on their V8s.

 

awesome... this should fix my problem. thanks a lot guys !
Chris

 

Actually, it adds a solenoid, it doesn't move the one off of the starter.

 

I would put money on the starter cable being corroded internally. It delivers enough current at idle but when it gets hot its not enough anymore.

You can always take a multimeter and measure Ohms across the wire from the battery to the starter and see what you get.

 

Actually you shouldnt be using an ohmmeter for this type of test, you should use a Volt meter. Unwanted resistance is typically measured in "voltage drop" in the automotive world. Its the amount of voltage lost across a specific wire, component, or circuit.

 

Voltage drop is still a new technique to me. Im just starting to get deep in electrical.

Thats where you hook the voltmeter, ground to ground and positive to positive on the starter, see the readings without hitting the switch and then see the readings while hitting the switch, correct?

 

Yes, thats what I meant... Just poor explanation on my part.