Slooow Cranking When Hot...

[TPI Monte SS]

Hey all,
Got one minor issue with the Monte. Seems that after I drive the car for a while and shut it down, when I go to restart it the starter cranks ~very~ slowly, then speeds up. Here's the specs on my electrical system -

- Approx. 2-year old Exide gel-cell battery, been totally drained once due to a bad fuel pump relay

- New reman. LT1 ministarter, installed 100 miles ago.

- 2-gage positive cable from battery to starter



- 4-gage negative cable from battery to accessory bracket bolt on the motor

- 6-gage additional ground wire added from a starter bolt to the frame

- stock ground strap is hooked from the firewall to the coil bracket on the intake

- upgraded to 10-gage wire running from S-terminal on the alternator directly to the battery.

The alternator is about 5 years old, but only has 20K on it or less. It does seem to have good cruising voltage according to the crappy stock gauge in the dash, though I haven't checked it with my voltmeter (it's locked in my classroom at work for the summer).

Where should I look, and what should I check to get this puppy to spin over consistently, even in the heat?

[astroracer]

Are you running headers? My experience with this problem is heat soak to the solenoid. A remote solenoid kit from here:
http://www.madelectrical.com/catalog/st-1.shtml
will solve the problem...
I would also recommend using # 2 cable for ALL of your grounds... It does make a difference.
Mark

[BonzoHansen]

If that battery completely drained, I'd take it and get it checked with a VAT. It very well could be laying down. Although I do not disagree with the above post at all. At least rule that out (and make sure there is no corrosion on any of the terminals).

Where is the battery, trunk?

[TPI Monte SS]

The battery is located under the hood, on the driver side. When I go back to work in two weeks, I can have my friend check it on the machine in the auto shop. I figured the LT1 starter should be able to handle the hot temps and increased compression ratio of this new motor, that's why I went for it.

[wickedridz]

it sounds like just a good old heat soak situation. to fix the problem for around 20-30 bucks all you need is a ford type starter solinoid. assuming your dealing with the local autozone tell them you have an 89 ford ranger or a 69 torrino, mount the relay by the battery. connect one side of the relay to the positive terminal of the battery and the other terminal gets connected to the starter solinoid. at the starter disconnect the crank wire from the solinoid (typically purple on gm) and run it up to the ford relay start terminal ( typically labled S) away from heat. on the starter you will need to jump the S terminal to the battery terminal. now if you have the factory harness in tact where the fuse panels feed and the alternator feed connect at the starter, you will also need to run those wires up to the battery size of the relay. this will cure the hot start issue. in regaurds to your battery those gell cell batteries typically after being drained down and recharged they never seem to have the full capacity as when they were brand new. the way it was explained to me by a manufacturer they loose 10 to 15 percent after each drain and recharge.

[Steven]

if all above fails, check the relay switch on the steering colume located on the inside of the car. This is rare, but but the contacts on GM switch do erode.