anyone ever experience heat/starter soak on their LS swaps?

I believe I am now. Starter was replaced with an Autozone reman 2 years ago (maybe 4000 miles). I was considering doing the remote solenoid and/or heat wrap on the starter.

I have the BRP/headman long tube headers.

Car would just click and no turn over last night. I tapped the solenoid with a long handle flat head...started right up. Started up twice this morning with no issues. I would run right out and buy one of those MSD starters but I have heard they can fail as well. The autozone (I know..made in china crap) is a lifetime warranty one so I can swap it out for free. My ignition switch is brand new...just replaced when column was rebuilt.

thanks for any input!

Leon

 

The solenoid might be sticky/dirty. I have pulled those apart before and cleaned them up. There is a copper disk in the front that connects the battery cable lug to the starter lug. They can get pitted/corroded from the arcing and not work. The copper dust can also cause stuff to short out.

Try a test where you short a screw driver across the main cable to the S terminal. If that makes it work than a remote start solenoid will almost guaranteed fix the issue.

These old cars develop a lot of resistance in the start switch circuit. It is not just the switch, but every wire and 40 year old connecter that can corrode and cause a voltage drop. This means you might only be getting 6-7 volts to the solenoid. Putting in a relay will put the full 12 volts to the solenoid AND extend the life of your ignition switch by taking all the current demand off of it.

BTW, I have an MSD starter cause I didn't know any better at the time. Nice unit, no issues in 8 years of use, but there is nothing wrong with a stock starter. Try cleaning up the solenoid and maybe the remote start solenoid. That should fix you up.

 

Replace with a Camaro5 starter. Use the OEM starter heat shield.

 

Revisiting this topic....

At the end of the driving season last year I began experiencing starter soak. I was able to jump the solenoid with a long screwdriver....but what a pain. I considered buyin a new starter; high torque mini or the new 5th gen one. Glad I didn't.

I removed the purple solenoid wire and found a few dings in the coating and some corrosion near the eyelet end. This was my problem. I verified the voltage drop with a DVM. First thing I did was purchase some equal guage wire and soldered it, heat shrink, reconnected, good right? Well, I didn't like the purple wire so close to my long tube headers and I felt it was just a temporary fix...something I would have to revisit. Looking around, I found a nice small company that made me a custom relay for the solenoid. The existing solenoid wire was re-routed to along the fender...and up,behind passenger headlight. There I have a 40amp SPDT waterproof relay. The new solenoid wire runs from the front of the car along side the large guage power wire to the starter. The solenoid wire is so much further away from the headers, this is the way they should have done it from the factory. CE auto electric supply was able to supply custom length color coded wire, fuse, connector ends and heat reflect tape. Good company, I suggest you check them out for your next electrical project.

http://www.ceautoelectricsupply.com







Relays and remote solenoid a have been around for years . I prefer the relay over the remote solenoid. Hopefully this helps some one who may have the same issue.