[jeffw]

Well 20 years I had a 1971 GT, Now I find my self in a new 1972 GT go figure!
Heres my problem
When the car is cold the starter Works but after running the car for a while, if I shut the car off, nothing,
Would there be a relay or something that heats up that opens causing this to happen.
any suggestion

Jeffw

 

[bear]

Jeff, you may want to try and take the starter solenoid apart and clean the plunger and the cavity it is in. That's presuming the solenoid does not engage when the engine is hot. HTH.

 

[kwilford]

Check the engine ground strap, and all the connections from the battery to the starter, and the ground from the battery to the chassis. Many years ago, I had exactly this problem; the engine would start perfectly when cold, but just "click" SOMETIMES (I HATE intermittent problems!) when hot. I started parking it on a hill, to make it easier to push start. But jump starting (to the battery terminals) didn't work, as you will soon see why.

At first, I blamed the solenoid, which I replaced to no avail. Then I re-built the starter, but still no luck. Finally, it began happening more often, so I was able to trace it to a slightly loose bolt on the ground strap (passenger side) to the block. I think I figured it out one time when I tried to jump start it and used the block as the ground connection. I guess when the engine was cold, the bolt was tight enough to make a passable connection, but when the bolt heated up, it expanded ever-so-slightly, and the connection became tenuous.

Or, it could be something COMPLETELY different! Good luck.

 

[jeffw]

Thanks,
I hope to spend the next couple of months cleaning up some of electricl connections
Sounds like you have spent a few hours under the hood.
Will be in touch
Jeff

 

[Opel4MyHubby]

Same issue in 73GT

Hi. Seems my little pride and joy does not have a unique problem. I used a file found on the ground to hot wire this little girl. This did get me some looks from the locals enjoying their ice cream cones as I am sure they were expecting this "yank" to blow herself (and others) to kingdom come when they figured out what I was about to do. I thank my Navy Chief for teaching me this trick in Australia.

Anyhow, I bought this car for my husband and it seems after I drove it off the lot and two hours later into a gas station, she would not show any signs of wanting to start. The following morning she cranked right over, and over again after I was paranoid that I was duped and would have to endure "the look" from my hubby.

So I will look over the suggestions here and allow my hubby to tinker.

I could tell immediately that I had done the right thing the minute he saw this girl. He, like many of you, had one when he was a young lad and some 20 years later the picture of it still is on his refrigerator. I am a Corvette girl myself, but we all have our own "dream car" issues!

This is a great site!

Thanks!

 

[gr_diver]

A few years ago I had a problem quite similar. When I parked my car in the sun (summer), it wouldn't start (starter would not rotate, and the solenoid would not do the "clicking" sound). Well after many hours of troubleshooting, I found out it was the steering lock, which would expand when the cabin was hot, and the rotation of the key was not enough to turn the lock switch to the start posotion. I found it by removing the switch from the steering lock, and rotating it with a screwdriver, miracoulusly it started. I changed the lock and never happened since.
A few months ago, I had my starter rotate so slowly that the condition was like a low battery symptom. Well, a bench test showed the battery good, and the problem was found to be a bad engine-to-chassis ground. Since it was difficult for me to remove/clean/re-assemble because of the location (bellhouse) I just added another ground strap on the passenger's side, this fixed it.

I hope these to be helpful!

 

[jeffw]

Well I though the ground strap was the problem after a good cleaning and tighting it seemed to work, but you guessed it. turn thr key, nothing
it seems like its an electrical problem
all the terminals are cleaned and tightened
is the a starter relay that may cause this ?
jeff

 

[baz]

no relay unless you build an otto start
i would agree with ron that the starter solenoid is not working well it must c**p out when hot
best bet would be have it tested off the car by an auto electrician

 

[jeffw]

Well sometimes look for the more difficult problems, I went back to basics, schools not out yet but it appears that negitave connection from the battery was the culprit.
Keith suggested the ground strap, once that was cleaned up there was a slight improvement
Go figure, the last time they cleaned was maybe 30+ years
Jeff

 

[jvandyke]

Uh oh, took car to park for lunch break. Went to leave, turn key-nothing. This happened twice before, both times it kicked in after I "tinkered" but I was convinced at the time I did nothing. Both times previous the car was hot. This time it was not. Started normally drove about a mile to park, sat and tinkered with key 'on' so radio would play. Only for about 10 minutes, that should have been the only draw on the battery, turned off electric fuel pump even.
So, I had to get back to work fiddled with the starter relay connections, nothing. Put her in gear and pushed it forward a bit to rock the motor and therefore maybe bump the starter but no go. Grabbed a screw driver, put key on "on" and jumped the lugs on the starter for a split second. This scares the crap out of me, it sparked and cranked a second. I went back to the traditional less scary method (key) nothing. No solenoid click or anything.
So walked back to work and am typing this. I will walk back, try to start (hopefully my car is still there, not the best part of town). Check grounds.
If she won't go I will again put key to "on" (car out of gear!!) and jump the lugs until she goes. This is correct emergency procedure I hope.
Important thing right now is I get home to my kids on time. This will not endear the GT to wife, she's already a heavy skeptic.
Emergency advice READILY accepted!!
Already back with GT under it's own power. Boss ran me over and he listened while I hit the ignition repeatedly, claimed he heard a very faint click, after about 5 hits, it fired and ran.
So I'll likely make it home okay but I need to fix this (too). I still have the original starter with a suspect Bendix, but now that it's warm I'm betting it will work fine. I could swap the whole works and see what happens. Pretty easy to swap now that I've "been there done that" once already. I will also clean up ground straps. I hope the ignition switch is okay yet.

 

[NineLivesGT]

no memory

That last reply by jvandyke sparked an old memory of how I used to start my old 70 GT, about 25 yrs ago. The '71 I have now starts with no problem, so I haven't had need to do that since around '78. Being a total geezer now, I can't seem to remember exactly how I jumped the lugs, as he put it, but I remember it did work, in a pinch. And he's right, it was scarier than a live grenade in your foxhole. I recall you had to grab the throttle on the carb and give it a little gas, the key had to be in the ON position, and you held the tip of the screwdriver across one of the starter terminals and the blade against another part ??? and you could zap it a few cranks and start it.
I do remember doing it once in total darkness in a parking lot at midnight, my buddy was standing beside me, I told him "stand back, unless you want to die". He took 2 steps back, I zapped it, and a spark about 5 inches wide jumped off the screwdriver and lit up the entire engine bay and went CCRRAAACK !!!, he jumped back about 10 feet and yelled HOLY S$#@%!!!...and the engine started right up. To be honest, it scared the living hell out of me, but cool as cool could be, I turned to him and said "What's the matter, is there a problem with that? ". He just stood there in a state of shock, as if I had been just struck by lightning.
Happiness lies in good health and a bad memory.

 

[jvandyke]

Good story. Maybe i won't fix it, just so I can generate good stories like that.

PS no reoccurance but I'll make doing "something" a priority, probably disassemble and clean up the old starter and swap 'em around. Wouldn't impress the wife much doing as you did; throwing sparks around at night.
Maybe instead of switching thermostats at the change of the season, I'll switch starters!:lmao:

 

[tekenaar]

Starter Bendix and solenoid

Uh oh, took car to park for lunch break. Went to leave, turn key-nothing. This happened twice before, . . .
So, I had to get back to work . . . No solenoid click or anything.
So walked back to work and am typing this. . . . This will not endear the GT to wife, she's already a heavy skeptic.
Emergency advice READILY accepted!!
Already back with GT under it's own power. Boss ran me over and he listened while I hit the ignition repeatedly, claimed he heard a very faint click, after about 5 hits, it fired and ran.
So I'll likely make it home okay but I need to fix this (too). I still have the original starter with a suspect Bendix, but now that it's warm I'm betting it will work fine. I could swap the whole works and see what happens. Pretty easy to swap now that I've "been there done that" once already. I will also clean up ground straps. I hope the ignition switch is okay yet.

REALLY?!! :lmao:

OK, levity done so let's address some starter terminology . . . appears there may be some confusion here between Bendix and solenoid.

Bendix is a "one-way clutch" attached to the starter gear and mounted to the starter motor shaft inside the starter. Its function is to provide motor drive to the ring gear on the flywheel when starting, but also acts as an "over-run clutch" (de-clutch, actually) if starter should stay engaged to flywheel once engine starts. Starter must be disassembled to replace it.

Solenoid is an electro-mechanical device that engages the starter gear with the flywheel ring gear AND closes a hi-amp switch to provide direct battery current to the starter motor. It is mounted externally (on top of) on the starter and can be removed without starter disassembly.

 

[tekenaar]

Starter doesn't turn

Oh yeah, two possibilities for starter motor not running with key in "Start" position:

If solenoid clicks, electrical contact disk inside solenoid not making contact - replace solenoid . . . make sure whether starter is Bosch or Delco, different solenoid mounting!

If solenoid doesn't click, ignition switch "Start" contact defective. Simple test is to turn ignition key to "On" position and jump starter solenoid battery connection (large, top one) to "driver side" (on right, facing) spade lug to see if it will start engine . . . "cheater" jump start method!

 

[jvandyke]

No, I think I've got it straight. The starter in the car seems to have a flaky solenoid, the one I pulled out recently seems to have a bad overrunning clutch (Bendix, I guess they're the same).
Wondering about swapping the clutch over since the solenoids don't swap.
http://www.opelgt.com/forums/1a-starting-charging-system/12504-crank-spin-2.html