Thanks Steve, I checked the oil today. It was actually about a quart low and I filled it. I do lose a little oil for some reason. I haven't delved into it yet. That was a couple of hours before the hot start problem happened though. The starter was replaced in January. I happen to have my original one back (rebuilt) as a spare, so I can swap it in if I have to. I'm pretty sure the battery cables are the right gauges, and they are (were) new since the rebuild. The positive terminal is intentionally a little loose in case I want to disconnect it if I'm not going to run it for a few days. I need to get one of those cutoffs like everybody uses for car shows. The starter wiring is a little funky right now anyway. I have the wires on the harness taped off because right now any time the key is in the run position, power goes to the solenoid wire. At some point somebody put a B&M floor shifter into this thing and bypassed the neutral safety switch and possibly botched up the wiring to the starter as well. Otherwise it could be a bad ignition switch (got one of those too - in a box). For now I have a heavy lead going straight from the battery to a hidden switch, and a thinner lead from that switch to the starter. The key does have to be in the run position for it to start. I don't know the actual gauges of the wires, but I do know that with a thinner wire from the battery it wouldn't start (actually behaved pretty much like it does now when hot - wouldn't turn at all), and the thicker wire doesn't fit on the starter terminal, so it's obviously not meant for that heavy a gauge. I think it has something to do with those wires though. Maybe I need an even thicker wire off the battery and/or something a little heavier to the starter. I don't know much about the theory behind it, but it doesn't take very long to re-wire it and see what happens. Of course I'll see what the timing does to it first. I guess the next step would be to replace the ignition switch and see if I can use the wiring harness to power the starter like you're supposed to.
John Nasta -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Monday, July 11, 2005 7:17 PM To: The Chevelle Mailing List Subject: [Chevelle-list] RE: Hot start probs John, I have seen it slow the starter down or make it so slow it won't start, but I have personally never seen it totally stop all rotation of the engine. I am sure you have heard of the famous "heat soak" problem that Chevy is famous for, so you may want to look into a heat shield for the starter, or go with a mini starter if the timing doesn't fix the issue totally. However, I doubt even that is the whole story, but maybe. What's the story on the age and quality of your solenoid? Frankly. I'm going to be very surprised if you tell us that timing was the whole problem, however, there's no doubt it's a contributing factor. I would put money on it being two or more issues. You are going to need to eliminate them until you find the problem(s). After the timing, inspect the electrical connections at the battery and solenoid. What condition are your battery cables? What diameter? How clean are the terminals? Wire brush terminals, make sure connections are tight, and verify you have over 14 volts coming back to the battery when the engine is running. You should also have your battery tested by a parts store under load. Just curious, have you checked the oil level lately? What type and weight of oil are you using? How much oil pressure do you get at idle and high rpms? Steve
