Hot start problems

[Urban67]

My newly acquired 400se let me down today, I have noticed that when it's hot it really doesn't like to start.
By this I mean that it feels like the battery is flat and struggles to turn the starter motor. Tonight it would start at all as if the battery just didn't have enough juice.
Luckily I had stopped at the CoOp only 1 mile from home so I walked home and went back to get her later when of course she started no problem at all.
Has anyone else had this problem and more importantly found a solution?

Apart from that the car is great and goes well and sounds awesome

Chris

[carob]

Possibly a baked starter motor. It is right next to the manifold so gets quite hot.

[Urban67]

carob said:

Possibly a baked starter motor. It is right next to the manifold so gets quite hot.

That's what I was thinking, is there anything else that's worth checking before I change it?

Chris

[carob]

Check what your battery is putting out, also check all the earths around the bay and the main one onto the chassis. Make sure all leads are secure especially the king lead from the coil. Wedg1e will be along soon to tell you how to fix it I am sure.

Rob

[Urban67]

carob said:

Check what your battery is putting out, also check all the earths around the bay and the main one onto the chassis. Make sure all leads are secure especially the king lead from the coil. Wedg1e will be along soon to tell you how to fix it I am sure.

Rob

Thanks Rob, much appreciated

Chris

[Campbell]

If it were me i would looking at the main power lead to the starter, check it condition, look for heat damage cracking in the insulation and the way it has been terminated ie is it crimped or soldered and the lead to the solenoid as they can cook been very close to the mamafold plus the soleniod can get a right hammering with the heat, you could buy a fire blanket and make up a heat shield for it.
I think there is some thing on Wedg1e web site about servicing the solenoid plus if you dont know how old the battery is look at some point to change it for the biggist out put battery what willl fit.

Hope that helps

Cambelt

[Wedg1e]

carob said:

Check what your battery is putting out, also check all the earths around the bay and the main one onto the chassis. Make sure all leads are secure especially the king lead from the coil. Wedg1e will be along soon to tell you how to fix it I am sure.

Rob

Hmmmm...

Wild stab in the dark, it could be heat soak causing the armature bushes to expand and grab the shaft ends. If it was mine I'd be stripping it down, good clean and a bit of high-temp grease or similar on the bushes.
I have heard of people bashing bits of alloy plate into heat shields and/or wrapping the exhaust in insulating..er... wrap.
Changing the motor may only fix it temporarily!

[SLB]

I had the same problem and it turned out to be the earth lead from the battery to the engine. It looked ok from the outside but internally it had corroded very badly, but I only found out that out after replacing the starter!

[Wedg1e]

SLB said:

I had the same problem and it turned out to be the earth lead from the battery to the engine. It looked ok from the outside but internally it had corroded very badly, but I only found out that out after replacing the starter!

Was the problem only evident when hot? I'd have expected it to be a permanent issue once the lead had corroded that badly.

[QBee]

Heat causes electrical resistance to rise, which is why the problem is hot starting.

As said above, the issue on RV8 cars is usually the quality of the thick leads or earths, combined with the appalling amount of heat these engines seem to generate. Get the Chim/Griff forums on the subject and you will realise that you are far from alone.

Might also be worth getting your battery condition checked by somewhere you trust, with a proper battery checker. If your battery is over 5 years old it might be due for a change. They generally last about six years

[dixiebabes]

Get yer slevees up and bump the bh. Definitely like carob said its a starter motor

Dix

[wild rover]

After you have checked all the leads refurb the starter. If it happens again check the leads for heat just incase the solenoid is sticking. A quick release battery terminal is a good investment .

[Urban67]

Thanks for all that chaps

On going through the raft of past invoices I have found out that the battery is almost 6 years old so I will check that first
The earth lead is new and looks ok
I will check all the other leads as well

It could be a combination of all the above so I will go through everything and then look at the starter motor

Cheers

Chris

[carob]

Good possibility it's the battery then. Let us know how it goes Chris.

Good luck.

Rob

[Urban67]

carob said:

Good possibility it's the battery then. Let us know how it goes Chris.

Good luck.

Rob

Thanks

Chris

[SLB]

Wedg1e said:

Was the problem only evident when hot? I'd have expected it to be a permanent issue once the lead had corroded that badly.

Yes, when stopping to fill up with petrol, otherwise it was fine which I assumed was due to the high temperature under the bonnet and so the resistance increased.