Heat soaking
I ran into some trouble on a hot day at the end of last summer when I was out driving my 68 Firebird.
I got stuck in traffic for a long time, stop and go, stop and go.
After about 45 minutes my temp light was lit (I've got idiot lights).
So I put my foot on the gas a little bit to raise the idle to about 2000 rpm and the light went out after a while.
This happened a number of times.
Eventually I got tired of this and pulled over to wait until the traffic eased up.
I shut the car off and raised the hood to let the engine cool down.
After about two hours the traffic was ok again and I thought I would be on my way.
But when I turned the key nothing happened.
The solenoid didn't even click.
I checked the battery which was fine but the starter was dead.
In the end I had to call a tow truck to get home (the car has an automatic, so I couldn't push-start it).
When I got home a number of hours later, the starter still was dead.
The next day it worked again!
I've done a couple of test runs to get the engine properly warmed up, so far no problems.
Something similar happened 10-15 years ago, but then I only had to let the car cool down for an hour or so and then it ran again.
After that I changed the internals of the solenoid and installed the missing heat shield for the solenoid.
No problems since then, until now.
My question is this: what is it that causes problems like this?
Is it mechanical problems, like the plunger in the solenoid expanding from the heat and getting stuck maybe?
Or is it electrical in the way that the wires to the solenoid gets so hot that the resistance in them gets really high and the voltage to the solenoid drops so much it doesn't even engage?
I'd like to figure this out instead of just buying a new starter to see if that solves the problem.
Any input would be much appreciated.
/Johan
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