Having some starter issues with the Camaro. When the car had the larger starter shoehorned into the bellhousing, I had no issues. I replaced it with the proper T5 starter, which is smaller, and ran into an issue with slow cranking and solenoid chattering when the engine was hot. Convinced AutoZone that I was apparently having a heat soak issue, and they gave me a new starter. I also bought a thermal blanket for the starter when I was driving through Georgia from summit.



Anyhow, yesterday, I put the new starter and the thermal blanket on the car, and the solenoid chatter is worse than it was with the other starter, and when the engine is warm, the starter cranks too slowly to start the car.



Everything is clean and bright, the battery is only a few months old, and I replaced the alternator a few weeks ago when the old one failed. I'm beginning to suspect the starter itself isn't the problem--either the starter safety switch on the clutch pedal, or a wiring issue from the purple wire that ultimately connects to the solenoid.

The car has a factory exhaust, no headers...the new starter seems to crank the engine at a decent speed when cold, but the solenoid can be heard chattering even as it's cranking when cold.



Any suggestions on what to look for? I'm also looking with some suspicion at the battery itself--it's a cheap Wal-Mart battery, and I do know some people have had issues with them. I'm thinking about maybe "borrowing" the battery from the Century wagon, and see if that makes a difference.

 

You may have other issues(weak battery) but I like to use the 88ish-96 corvette starter.

 

Later model permanent magnet gear reduction starter from a corvette or 4th gen f body is an amazing starter, lighter, more powerful and more resistant to heat soak than the direct drive unit that was original to our cars.

However, sounds like you have some other issue here.

The starter gets it's power directly from the large battery cable. If this cable is questionable, replace it.

The starter signal voltage through the ignition switch (and neutral safety, etc.) is lower current. It is an on/off signal to the starter/solenoid. Failure here is unlikely to cause your problems. You can test this system easily by manually jumping the large 'hot' lead on the solenoid and the smaller 'solenoid' lead on the starter WHILE it is acting up. I have in the past used a screwdriver to jump the terminals, but today I'd probably use two sections of wire with alligator clips to each terminal.

 

I agree you may have something else going wrong with the circuit or battery but the smaller starters are problematic. I've gone through so many over the years. The LT1 style starter is a MUCH better alternative.

 

Looks as if it may have been a binding problem, which is hard to judge with the closed nature of the T5 bellhousing.

I had to put the car back together in a hurry, because my wife was involved in an accident that totalled her car, so I needed the Camaro running right away.

I put the original starter back in the car, installed two shims to space the starter out a bit, and put the starter blanket I bought from Summit on the car, and have had no further issues. It cranks somewhat slowly for about a half second when the engine is hot, then cranks normally, with no solenoid chatter. Hopefully, that's all that was wrong.