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What is my problem?

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xsmokey11499x

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Sep 29, 2010
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Location
lake elsinore California.
Here's the deal..
I wake up in the morning. I start my truck and go to Point A. Stay there for 10 minutes. Try to leave and my truck wont start. Weak cranking. Like a dead battery. I pull my buddies battery out, Put it in my truck. Same effect.
I put my battery in his truck. HIS truck fires right up.

I let my truck sit for about. 30+ minutes. it will start with a weak crank..

Bad starter?
 
heat soak... got headers?

new starter... you can also add a slave solenoid to the system to help prevent this down the road...
 
well, it'll be fine with a new starter... a gear reduction mini starter is the easiest first step to help prevent it down the road.... always a nice upgrade, and relatively cheap these days...

a slave solenoid is often refered to as a "ford solenoid" or remote solenoid mod.. it involves putting an additional slave solenoid further up the pos bat cable and a bit of other wire mods..
 
How do your battery cables look? Might be a long shot , but, any chance your timing is too advanced? That can make hot starts more difficult, a 76 K5 I used to own, the dist hold down had loosened and let the dist spin a bit advancing my timing , it would fire up great cold but was a bear to start once it was hot, just a thought.
 
jt512 said:
How do your battery cables look? Might be a long shot , but, any chance your timing is too advanced? That can make hot starts more difficult, a 76 K5 I used to own, the dist hold down had loosened and let the dist spin a bit advancing my timing , it would fire up great cold but was a bear to start once it was hot, just a thought.
Click to expand...

My cables look pretty darn good, ( spliced open and no corrosion)
timing is good to go. all grounds are good.

I think it might be time for a new starter I guess..


also I called the parts store.
and they were asking me
Small drive opening or large drive opening?
what's the difference?.
It's an 87 gmc Sierra 1500. 2wd. 5.0L. TBI
 
Regardless of how the cables hook, make sure the terminals at the battery and the starter are clean and tight.

I'd take the starter in and have it tested first before ordering a new one.

Also I've never heard of a small or large opening drive starter... :thinking:
 
Chevy305 said:
Regardless of how the cables hook, make sure the terminals at the battery and the starter are clean and tight.

I'd take the starter in and have it tested first before ordering a new one.

Also I've never heard of a small or large opening drive starter... :thinking:
Click to expand...

Yeah its what i thought. I think my dad's 72 c20 had lifetime warranty. On the starter
. Its a 5.7l but same starters no?
 
There are two different starters based off of flywheel tooth count. Being a truck yours will have the 168 tooth flywheel verses something like a Camaro with a 153 tooth flywheel. I think thats what they mean by small or large opening starter.
 
Could it possibly be a bad coil on the dist? Gettin hot while running and doesnt wanna go again till it cools? Mine does this to an extent and its got new starter, but it did it with my old motor as well and my dist is the only part i swapped over along with the carb. Could be flooded carb too in my case anyway....
 
If you want to test for this "too advanced" condition, just pull the wires to the coil before the hot crank.

But if this is just the standard Chevy starter heat soak problem, search these forums for "Ford solenoid". I used to warranty out a reman starter like once a year for this problem. Since I went remote solenoid I've had the same one for...so long I can't remember. The problem isn't the starter, it's the solenoid and the undersized stock solenoid wiring. When the engine is hot you don't have enough current to pull the solenoid in "hard" and the starter doesn't get enough voltage.

There is more than one way to do it and IMO, while the standard one (with diagrams floating around the forums) is enough to fix the problem, it's not the best way.

You can go to a mini starter if you want, but they are what - $250? The Ford solenoid can be had for $15 or $20 last time I checked. Add $10 in wire and it's almost too cheap not to try.
 
ryoken said:
mini starters can be had for under $150...
Click to expand...

Sometimes just a simple heat sheild and painting the starter with aluminum paint makes all the difference,if its a heat soak problem--you can buy one from "HELP" at parts stores..--the ford solenoid trick helps too,the long trip the voltage needs to take from the battery,to the ignition,and back to the starter solenoid (and thru the nuetral safety switch) often reduces the volts so much by the time it gets to the solenoid on the starter,when its hot,isn't quite enough to kick it in completely...the contacts in the solenoid can cause slow cranking if they are all acred out or corroded too...sometimes a starter gets its windings oveheated by cranking it too long with a weak battery,that can kill its power after it gets hot,but seem to work fine cold...I always put 2 gauge cables on my starters when I had to replace an old cable--overkill here wont hurt a bit...
 
I still don't understand how a remote solenoid helps or even does anything because you don't take out the factory one in fact you still connect everything to same terminals on it. Look at a wiring diagram for installing one it makes zero sense to me. :screwy:
 
it gives you full voltage across the solenoid windings..... and no, it is not hooked up exactly the same... you effectively create a 1-wire starter... i'll try to hunt my stuff down in a bit..

i have seen some people install them in other ways that really don't give you much benefit tho...
 
starter1.jpg





diagram31.jpg
 
Oh ok that makes a ton more sence. The diagrams I had seen in the past just slapped a solenoid in series with the factory wiring which made no sence to me.
 
that's the ones i was referring to that really don't do much of anything... if i saw the actual diagram again, i can explain it's drawbacks...
 
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