78 won't start after it's hot

[PaulR]

My 78 won't start after it's hot, without turning the key many times. All I get is a clicking sound. I,m afraid to shut it off after driving it for awhile...My 87 did the same thing and I had to change the starter, is this the same symptom..the engine gets hot and the starter heat soaks and the bendix doesn't engage. . The cars only got 28,000 org miles, so I'm thinking the starter should have plenty of life left??? Ant thoughts would be appreciated. :confused

 

[Yoda]

My 78 won't start after it's hot, without turning the key many times. All I get is a clicking sound. I,m afraid to shut it off after driving it for awhile...My 87 did the same thing and I had to change the starter, is this the same symptom..the engine gets hot and the starter heat soaks and the bendix doesn't engage. . The cars only got 28,000 org miles, so I'm thinking the starter should have plenty of life left??? Ant thoughts would be appreciated. :confused

Paul,
I would say you probably are correct about it being "Starter HEAT Soak". Unfortunately the General's design lends to this problem. A quick check, not the most technical, is to take an "old" screw driver and short across the soleniod, my guess is the car will start, if this is the case then the starter is most definitely the problem.

BudD

 

[78SilvAnniv]

same problem, years ago

Heat shield.
Sil

 

[mytoy]

I have a 78 also.I had the same problem, I wrapped the starter still same thing, after checking and thinking about the problem I didn't have the problem untill my wife had a new battery installed while I was working out of town, the crankingamps wasn;t large enough for the vette

 

[77-4speed]

Solenoid

Paul,

A quick check to see if it is heat soak is:

After driving for some time, turn off the car and CAREFULLY cool the starter down with water. Be careful not to get water on the wires. If after cooling with water, the car starts, you have starter heat soak.

Back in the day, GM's service fix was to replace the solenoid return spring with a shorter one. In the field, people were told to simply remove the solenoid, then cut 2-3 loops off of the return spring in the solenoid. This field fix remedied the problem of starter heat soak.

You might be able to get the shorter spring from a local chevy dealer(?). You can also check the www.ncrs.org web site and search for the heat soak problem. This is very common and someone may be able to point you to the correct replacement spring.

Hope this helps.

Russ

 

[Hijinx]

First, if its an old starter, replace it. They are not that expensive and it will be worth it. Second, get you a remote selnoid from Summit. I have used this on most of my older Chevy's. The sweet thing about it is that it also gives you a great place to tie into for other power needs. It also gives you an easy place to put a remote starter when working on the engine. The other great thing about this setup is that it only requires one lead to the starter. I put mine on the passenger side firewall, up high. The stock power lead from the battery just reached and I ran a new one to the starter. Check it out.