C4 Starting Issues When Warm
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Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 97
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From: Wixom Michigan
C4 Starting Issues When Warm
Question for you folks out there: I have an 85' vette with the 4+3 with 60K on it. It starts up like a champ every time except when I've been driving it for a while. If I driven it for a bunch of miles regardless of how I'm driving it, immediately after shutting off the motor and then trying to fire it back up all I get is the fan that kicks on and no crank from the motor. I decided to open up the hood on my car and let the hot air from under the car get out for a few minutes and literally after 5 minutes I was able to start the car perfectly. Now I have another buddy who has an 81 vette that does the same thing.
Is this something characteristic to the vehicle line?
Any ideas as to where to start?
I just threw a new battery and belt into it and I'm looking into an exhaust wrap to try and keep some exhaust heat out of the engine compartment but what else?
Thanks in advance!
Is this something characteristic to the vehicle line?
Any ideas as to where to start?
I just threw a new battery and belt into it and I'm looking into an exhaust wrap to try and keep some exhaust heat out of the engine compartment but what else?
Thanks in advance!
Race Director
Joined: Jun 1999
Posts: 14,924
Likes: 9
From: Merritt Ils Fl
Very common with large 350 starters that have a bit of age on them. problem is in the brass contacts in the solenoid. The become burned from use, when hot don't make sufficient contact to carry cranking current. You can do several things, best solution is a mini starter, new starter,new solenoid, or rebuild the solenoid. My solution was a mini starter.
Thread Starter
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Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 97
Likes: 0
From: Wixom Michigan
I figured it had to be one of those also. Now what do you mean by a mini-starter? I had figured replacing the solenoid switch would do the trick but I'd be interested in the mini starter also depending on how you felt about your experience.
Team Owner
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 20,275
Likes: 236
From: Summerland B.C. Canada
It does sound like your starter is the problem.
Team Owner
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 54,124
Likes: 30
From: Cincinnati, Oh USA
You can replace just the solenoid contacts. If you can't hear the solenoid click when you hit , "crank", on the ign sw, then you might have poor battery connections which you can fix by cleaning them. If you do hear a click, if you keep cycling crank over and over and if it starts, you have banged the contacts enough to get the starter to run and this also tells you the contacts need replacing. I had this happen to me about 6 months ago and it took 20 crank hits to get my starter to crank.
