Hot Start Issues

[ukkid35]

The only remaining hot start issue that my car suffers from is due to heat soak after extended periods in stationary traffic

This usually happens when I'm trying to get through passport control / customs / security checks at the Eurotunnel, but it most recently happened as I was queuing for a fuel pump

When I go to restart the engine, all I hear is a click from the solenoid

I've already fitted a helper relay in the engine bay so the issue isn't voltage drop through the immobiliser / starter relay in the boot

I've also just bought one of these cheap USB thingies which also has a volt meter



This one is branded Baseus and is actually as nice as it looks

I could see that when the solenoid clicked, the voltage drop was only 0.1v, so it's obvious that the solenoid simply loses the ability to operate fully when heat soaked

It's not a matter of the starter lacking the power to crank the engine

So, my new technique of dealing with stationary traffic is to immediately switch off the engine, even if I know I'll have to start it in 30 seconds time

It may seem tedious, a manually operated stop-start mechanism, but it works perfectly, no problem getting boarded on the Eurotunnel, unlike the last time I had to do so

I should mention that I don't have a heat shield on the starter, but I'm not convinced that would help the solenoid since it is already shielded from direct heat from the manifold, by the starter itself

However I am going to fit a new solenoid to see whether that makes a difference

[CerbWill]

As much of a pain in the arse as it can be to fit them the starter heatshield made difference to hot start issues with my new engine. Though those issues were the starter not spinning the engine fast enough rather than solenoid issues.