Starter motor won't start motor

[James MK]

It was working fine for the first 21 years until I had the original Capri engine swapped for a Cosworth 24v. On it's second outing I stopped to get some more fuel, stalled it, couldn't restart. By the time international rescue arrived it was fine.

Seems that the new custom manifolds run just a little too close to the starter. Wrapping it in heat shield helped for a few months but it reached a point last year when I had to 'find' someone to help me get started every time. Great when it stalls in traffic (sticky clutch as well).

Got a the starter reconditioned and the same thing happened on the way home! now it seems to have settled into a pattern: starts from cold fine but won't restart when hot. I've kind of got used to it now but there must be a way of curing it for good, hopefully for another 21 yrs!

Any suggestions? Please?

[racingsnake]

Starting handle?

[number 7]

If its the original starter, its probably in need of an overhaul by now anyway. My current Wedge fried its starter a couple of years back (lots of smoke from it) so I replaced it, and fitted an ally heatshield underneath it and wrapped the manifold pipes closest to it with glassfibre heat shielding fabric enclosed in a wire mesh cover so that it was flexible and could be bent to the correct shape. I think that's as much as you can practically do.

7.

[James MK]

Starting handle is a nice idea (don't think I haven't considered it!) but more heat wrap around the manifolds (it'll be tight!) must be the only answer for now.

Might be a silly question, but if the manifolds are effectively insulated along this short length where does all this excess heat dissipate? Will this cause a localised 'hot spot'? Or am I worrying too much?

James

[grahamw48]

Can you put some heatshielding around the starter itself ?

Could you open up the starter, check which part is suffering through the excess heat, and make some alteration to it ?
Is there a clearance which can be adjusted, to allow for more expansion in the heat, before 'sticking' ?

Perhaps try to locate a starter which is physically smaller, and therefore further away from the heat. Maybe possible, given Ford's huge range, much of which is interchangeable.

[llanelli-rob]

Fit a Cosworth starter?

[combine]

Saw your car at wedge fest, and that engine !! wolf in wolf's clothing , presumed when you had engine swapped starter came with cossie too ? Can understand the manifolds may be too close to starter but its the same with rv8's !

[SLB]

Had a similar issue on my SEAC whilst stopping for petrol. Only when hot and it gradually got worse over a year or two. Turned out to be a less than perfect earth connection in the battery connector ie where the cable goes into the battery connector there was corrosion that could only be seen once it was taken apart. When it happens again, try putting a jump lead from the battery to the engine block and you can test the earth lead at the same time. I've seen the earth leads corrode from the inside out and the current carrying capacity is alot less when it's hot. Good luck.

[James MK]

Thanks for the advice!

Earth connection maybe? That's an interesting one, the earth strap from the battery isn't all that heavy.

It's on the (long) list of things to do.....now let's try having a nice reliable car for spring? And roll on BBWF 2006!

[grahamw48]

Hmmm.
Interesting that, as the only time my car refused to start was due to that same earth cable being u/s. Since replaced, and now starts no problem, hot or cold.