Hi again, I had this problem a while back and thought it was taken care of with a tilton mini starter. When we go for a drive and the car gets hot some times it will not turn over it just clicks. I then open the hood and short the the starter wire to the hot with a prybar and it turns the starter over. Then I get in the car and it starts. I have replaced the solenoid and battery. I do not have a heat shield on the starter and I was told the mini starter should handle the heat from the headers. Is this true? I was looking at getting a starter wrap from summit or jegs but not sure if this is the problem. Today when the car didn't start I had a guy tell me it's the flywheel but I don't think thats true because it will start after I short the starter. Usually this only happens when it is in the 90's here and it was only in the 50's today and it happened.

 

By shorting the two starter terminals together, you're taking one thing out of the equation, your start wire. It's possible that wire is getting too hot and building up resistance, and not enough juice is getting to the solenoid. Next time it acts up like that, hopefully in the garage, put a volt meter on the start wire at the solenoid. Then see what kind of a reading you get when you turn the key to start.

 

Camaro 69, Thanks for getting back to me. I was thinking of putting a GM solenoid kit in. Do you think this will help or would I be better of trying to change the start wire?

 

A suggestion would be to rewire similar to what is being done in newer cars, by adding a start relay between the ignition switch and the solenoid, and using a heavy wire between the relay and the solenoid. This takes the load off the ignition switch and allows more current to the solenoid.

 

I had a similar problem until replacing the starter (non-mini) and adding a heat shield. Not had a problem since.

 

Well I haven't got around to changing the wire or adding a relay been busy with work. Today I started the car and backed it out of the garage and it sat for a few hours, when I tried to start the car to move it back in the garage I just got a click. My question is could the armature have a bad spot because it was only 45 today so heat is not a issue today. I did not take a voltage test on the ignition wire but I did short the solenoid to the battery wire and the starter turned. Again the car started right up after shorting the solenoid.

 

I forgot to say the car only ran for maybe 2 min at the most.

 

Since the starter will turn over when you short across the two starter terminals, it wouldn't be the motor.
Have you checked your start wire with a volt meter yet, to tell what kind of voltage is getting down to the solenoid when you turn the key?

 

Ok here is the update. I went out to the garage to check the car and found that it only makes a click and will not start. I removed the start wire at the solenoid and I get 11 volts when the key is turned. I am thinking the starter is bad or has a dead spot on it. I was thinking of taking the wire off the solenoid and hooking it to a relay and boosting power to the solenoid. Any help would be great. Thanks again guys

 

Here is something else that is strange. I hooked my 200 amp charger/booster up to the car and set it on 200 amp boost and I turned the key the car started. Now I am really confused because it acts like the battery is to weak to start the car or did the boost give the starter more juice to turn over?