Yet Another Starting Problem

[Proteusbound]

Hi all.. I'm new to the forum, and I recently got a 1989 Firebird V-6
There's nothing wrong with the car aside from an annoying start problem.
When the car gets up to temperature, and shut off, it won't restart for about 15 minutes.
I've surmised the starter/solenoid as the culprit.. But is there a quick fix in the form of a heat shield.. or something that may deflect heat from the starter?

I had a 1979 Skyhawk a few years back, with a similar engine, and you had to drop the exhaust system to get to the starter.. and I really don't want to deal with that again.

[Morley]

Well, if it is already doing the hot no start thing, then you'll have to change the starter anyway, a heat shield won't help at this point, damage done. You could put a heat shield on the new starter before you put it in.

[89Firebird2.8]

Bad bad memories here, I've been down this road half a dozen times. You can get the starter on/off without dropping the exhaust. However, it is tight quarters in there, and you will be cussing the whole time, especially because of that little shim that is near impossible to put in the right place. And yes, it does sound like your solenoid is shot. One of the last times this happened, I was able to take the solenoid apart myself and replace with one off of a starter that had actually physically broken off, and that helped for a while, before i lost that one. I then ordered a starter from a professional shop up in Salt Lake City, and it's been on there with no problems since like, somewhere in the January-March area. Napa and Parts Plus can not build starters, or even rebuild them very well at all. I don't currently have a heat shield on there, and it's doing fine. I think one of my failures might have been heat related, since it seemed to work fine after a cool-off period, and it always happened after a good bit of cruising. Although usually I replaced them after they just damn well stopped working completely. My friends still won't ride in my car to this day because they got sick of push starting it.

So basically, buy a professionally done starter, not a Parts Plus/Napa/chain retailer starter. It only cost me maybe $10-$20 bucks more and it was well worth it.

[Proteusbound]

I found this article in the tech links..
Has anyone tried it?

http://www.thirdgen.org/solenoid

[Morley]

Originally Posted by Proteusbound

I found this article in the tech links..
Has anyone tried it?

http://www.thirdgen.org/solenoid

If you'll notice, the old solenoid is left in place and since it has the bendix on it, it still has to be actuated electrically. So, if the problem is heat breaking down the windings in the solenoid and the old solenoid is still there and being energized electrically by a remote solenoid.....You see where I'm going with this?