I have a 71 Olds Cutlass with a 455 engine with an electric fuel injection system, I am having a problem with slow start. After the vehicle gets hot, when I try to start it back up, the starter drags. I have a starter wrap on the starter, but still having a problem. Please help !.

Thanks

 

Welcome. The GM hot starter problem is well known. The problem is that the circuitous starter circuit has a lot of places where dirty or corroded terminals can cause voltage drops. It doesn't take much loss of voltage to prevent the starter solenoid from making contact.

The first question is, how old is your starter? The solenoid contact disc and mating terminals arc and pit every time you engage the starter. Eventually this causes excess resistance that reduces starting reliability. Similarly, any wear or corrosion at the terminals in the firewall connector, at the neutral safety switch, or at the ignition switch can cause voltage drop. And are the brushes in the starter new also? There are a lot of bandaid fixes that use the Ford solenoid, but even then the original GM solenoid needs to function for the starter to work. Fix that and you don't need the bandaid.

I'm also not a fan of insulation or wraps. The problem is that no insulation is 100% effective. Eventually the starter inside the wrap heats up, and now the wrap prevents it from cooling down. Unfortunately, people want to think they need some miracle fix when in reality they just need to bring the original equipment back to where it was when it left the factory.

 

Thanks, for the information. I purchased the starter about a year ago brand new from summit. Another problem may be the starter is too headers, I purchased a high performance starter about 6 months ago, but unfortunately there is not enough clearance to install it, so I returned it.

 

Check your ignition timing, it may be a little too far advanced to start reliably when the engine is hot. Take 3-4 degrees out of it and see if it helps. If it does and the performance of the car is not affected it could just have been too far advanced, may even run better, who knows? Check the battery cables, old wires can corrode at the terminals and inside and cause a voltage drop. Also check that all the wires going to and from the starter are clean and tight.

The other day I bought a used UTV and it had starting issues after a couple of days, couple of days later it just would not start. When I checked it, the dealer that I bought it from had put in a new battery, and they just left the battery cables lose. I could unscrew the terminal by hand, tightened them up and all was well.

 

Thanks! I will check the timing and I already replaced the the battery cables. I am thinking of purchasing a power master mini starter, because there is not much clearance but I will check the timing first, hopefully this will solve the problem.