adallak Posted July 31, 2005 Report Share Posted July 31, 2005 Today I finally had the time to replace the starter on my 4.9. It would not crank (no noise, nothing) when engine’s hot after driving for some 30 plus minutes…It let me down several times in two years… I put an ACDelco remanufactured starter for $120 plus core. BTW, you do not need to remove exhaust manifold to remove the starter as the FSM recommends. Just disconnect all the wires, unbolt the fly wheel inspection cover, starter's shield, two mounting bolts, push the starter’s “nose” up and pull the bottom down. That’s it. Changes noticed: 1. Old one would just click without a jumper from the battery to solenoid’s positive. The new one has worked fine without any jumper. 2. After driving to home for an hour and trying to start the hot engine (210 F) in 10 minutes it would not start. The starter did make some noise but did not crank. Before it would not do any noise under similar conditions. Finally it started at the seventh attempt. UFFFF! At least it did start! LOL Looks like the next suspect is the battery. It is a five- years-old DieHard Gold. I have never had any problem to start even very cold engine…The voltage is usually 11.7 -12.1. Questions: 1.What if the battery just gets too hot during long drives and cannot provide enough ampers to the starter? 2. Cold starts are hard on batteries… How about hot starts? Same thing? What if I turn lights on for a couple of minutes before cranking when engine is hot (just like I do in very cold winter mornings) to “wake up” the battery. Any battery experts able to shed some light? Thanks in advance. The saddest thing in life is wasted talent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigjayzway Posted July 31, 2005 Report Share Posted July 31, 2005 adallak. I have never had any luck with die hard series. I switched to Interstate about 15 years ago, and never looked back. I asked my mechanic the same question, and he said YES the hot weather has its toll on batteries. It is not as bad as cold, but in extended periods(as we have had) it will start to deteriorate the cells, or at least break them down. Big Jay Life is too short to grow up! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oldgamer Posted August 1, 2005 Report Share Posted August 1, 2005 adallak, cold start actually takes more from the battery, couse to crank cold engine is harder than hot one USUALLY. Even more, the battery voltage is lower after sitting overnight. It's easier to check the battery than something else. 1. Did you try to start hot engine with other battery, when your battery can't crank the engine? Try it. 2. Did you notice how hard battery loaded when you try to crank hot engine (voltage drop/no voltage drop)? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adallak Posted August 1, 2005 Author Report Share Posted August 1, 2005 Ok. I put a nice 4 guage jumper directly from the battery to one of two starter's mounting bolt. I drove the car for an hour, let it seat for 10 minutes (the worst case scenario to start a hot engine). It started right away! These grounds are indeed essential on 10-plus years old Cadillacs. The Die Hard Gold passed load test just fine despite it is five-years-old. Thanks for all suggestions. The saddest thing in life is wasted talent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oldgamer Posted August 1, 2005 Report Share Posted August 1, 2005 The grounds are essential for all cadillacs. The grounds became bad with the age , that what happenned. It's possible in your case that ground became worse when it's hot. Simple calculations shows that to make at least 500A current in a circuit with a 12V battery resistance of whole circuit (terminals+ cables+ grounds+starter+contacts+ resistance of battery) should not be higher than 0.024 ohm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adallak Posted August 1, 2005 Author Report Share Posted August 1, 2005 The grounds are essential for all cadillacs. The grounds became bad with the age , that what happenned. It's possible in your case that ground became worse when it's hot.Simple calculations shows that to make at least 500A current in a circuit with a 12V battery resistance of whole circuit (terminals+ cables+ grounds+starter+contacts+ resistance of battery) should not be higher than 0.024 ohm. Right... a slight temperature driven change in resistance makes a huge difference. I am pretty sure the old starter would work fine with new ground, but I promissed the sales guy from the store to not return the reman. ACDelco starter if it was installed. I did install it so have to be honest. LOL I did try a jumper to the ground stud on the engine block right by the starter, but it did not help. The next step was repairing old starter or just replacing it. I highly recommend anyone who has starting problem with a 4.* engine trying first a good jumper to starter's mounting bolt. My data show the half of all repairs done on my car in five years were unnecessary. They were mostly part replacing type repairs. The saddest thing in life is wasted talent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
don280z Posted August 7, 2005 Report Share Posted August 7, 2005 I replaced my starter (in my '92 Seville) with a rebuilt one and experienced the same problems you are having...Whe the engine was hot, the starter would barely turn over... It turns out, the starter was a bad rebuild and I had to replace it (again). The second one worked perfectly.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adallak Posted August 8, 2005 Author Report Share Posted August 8, 2005 I replaced my starter (in my '92 Seville) with a rebuilt one and experienced the same problems you are having...Whe the engine was hot, the starter would barely turn over... It turns out, the starter was a bad rebuild and I had to replace it (again). The second one worked perfectly.... Do you remember who manufactured those rebuilts? The saddest thing in life is wasted talent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
canadian95sts Posted August 8, 2005 Report Share Posted August 8, 2005 I had a problem once where my car ran fine, shut it off, and when i went to turn it back on it would try and turn over but wouldnt make it all the way. Thought it was the battery or starter at first, then thought i blew the motor. When i finally had it towed to my mechanic we found that the pully on the AC compressor was siezed tight, stopping the engine from turning over, what a relief! Matt A good friend will come and bail you out of jail...BUT, a true friend will be sitting next to you saying, "darn...that was fun!" www.madd.ca Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adallak Posted August 8, 2005 Author Report Share Posted August 8, 2005 I had a problem once where my car ran fine, shut it off, and when i went to turn it back on it would try and turn over but wouldnt make it all the way. Thought it was the battery or starter at first, then thought i blew the motor. When i finally had it towed to my mechanic we found that the pully on the AC compressor was siezed tight, stopping the engine from turning over, what a relief! Matt It just seized without any warning? No noise before it happened? The saddest thing in life is wasted talent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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