Hot Start Issue

[Addy]

Hi Everyone,

Car starts fine when cold, drives fine, until I park it. If I attempt to restart the vehicle after sitting between 0-4 hours, I get nothing. No cranking, nothing. I can hear (what I believe to be) the starter relay clicking once, but nothing from the starter. After allowing the vehicle to cool, it fires right up. Car has new Eagle starter, new battery, new starter relay.

As I understand it, the typical hot start issue is characterized by cranking but no firing and is caused by a defective RPM relay/fuel accumulator. Based on the threads I've read, this seems to be a different issue.

Thanks,

Addy

[Bitsyncmaster]

Sounds like your car has not got the starter relay update done to it. Without that update your starter solenoid may not have enough power to pull the starter into gear and start turning.

[Addy]

Sounds like your car has not got the starter relay update done to it. Without that update your starter solenoid may not have enough power to pull the starter into gear and start turning.

I did the update when I replaced the starter. Would that only present an issue during a hot start?

[Bitsyncmaster]

I did the update when I replaced the starter. Would that only present an issue during a hot start?

If your starter is not cranking the engine then you probably have a poor electrical connection or battery or starter is bad. If it only does it during a hot start that "bad" connection my be closer to the engine or the starter is faulty. Technically, a warm engine is easier to crank than a cold engine.

That red stock wire going from the battery to the starter has a terminal wrapped around the wire that is common to be faulty.

[tommyrich]

Also check/clean the ground braid at the engine mount. This caused me similar symptoms.
Tom

[David T]

Also check/clean the ground braid at the engine mount. This caused me similar symptoms.
Tom

Is the car an automatic? If it is, the starting circuit for the starter is a little more complicated since it has a neutral start switch to prevent you from starting the car in gear. It could be out of adjustment, a bad switch, bad relay, or a bad connection. The place to start is at the starter and see if you get power on the white/red wire while the ignition key is in the "start" position. That will point you in the direction of the problem.

[Citizen]

Based on what you've said, I don't think the starter itself is the problem. However, if you find you take it off for some reason, most auto parts stores will bench test it for free.

I had a very similar problem on my 74 Challenger. Had a confirmed bad starter relay, so I replaced it first. Then car would not turn over unless I jump started it, or left the charger on all night, so I figured it was something else (bad battery, bad starter, solenoid, ground, alternator, etc.).

Turns out, the new starter relay was bad! Yep, confirmed. I replaced it again, and never had the problem since.

Thomas

...

[Addy]

Car is a manual.

I'll take a hard look at the battery connections, and try a new relay just to rule that out. I'll also check my battery voltages just to be sure.

Thanks.

[David T]

Car is a manual.

I'll take a hard look at the battery connections, and try a new relay just to rule that out. I'll also check my battery voltages just to be sure.

Thanks.

What I said in post # 6 can still work on 5-speeds. Jumper the big terminal on the starter to the w/r wire and see if it cranks.