RobbMC Starter Clicks When Hot

My car has a RobbMC starter that is starting to click and not start the car when hot. This is new for it. I've had it for several years and it recently has started letting me down and I have to knock on it to get it to crank.

Is this something that is easily cured with a new solenoid or is there something else I can do to cure it?

 

That was the first thing I did. Currently, it is in the normal orientation with the solenoid on top of the starter motor. I'm thinking of moving the solenoid down under the main starter motor body to see if that helps at all.

 

Check your battery amperage when this happens....

Happened to me before just a standard chevy 350.. hot summer hot motor had starter issues, swap starters same thing..... swapped battery solved... Then put the original stater back in left the swapped battery in original starter worked just fine..... bought a new battery everything was good for years.....

 

I had it tested. It has enough juice to start once I tap on it a few times. I'm going to rotate the solenoid down to see what happens.

 

That sounds typical of commutator/brush making poor contact, or mica recesses filled with soot.
Having Tonya Harding have a go usually breaks the brush away from the shock and allows the motor to turn again.

Time to pull it and fix it or have it fixed.
You most likely can recess the mica, dress the commutator, and replace the brushes.

(I would follow Larry's advice and call Rob and see what he says first)

 

It usually starts in the garage but if it hits the sour spot of 15-45 minutes, it won't start without a whack. I'll pull it and see what things look like.

 

Sounds like what used to be common on old Mopar starter relays. You turn the key, maybe hear a click, open the hood and hit the relay with a screwdriver handle, and sometimes it would then work. If not, use the screwdriver as a jumper across the terminals, and voila....

 

Yep, I had this problem for years with the factory-style huge starter to the point I installed a relay for the solenoid.

 

Heat shield in place?

 

Not currently.

 

I had similar problems with a 1981 cutlass 267 v8 which came with no heat shield. It would restart only if the engine was allowed to cool of. Heat shield installed & problem solved.

 

OK, reclocked the solenoid to be on the bottom. I had to move some wires to get more slack. I drove it tonight to the local cruise and it started in 93° heat after an hour of heat soaking. Maybe that cured it.

However, I have discovered other issues now. The link to the lights is loose. I had no headlights when I went to turn them on. I think I need to rewire that part of the harness. I don't think I have ANY fusible links in the system. There is only one other wire besides the main battery cable on the solenoid post. This could be some of my other issues. One step forward, one step back.

 

They were in my cart, along with the step-down butt connectors before I posted this.

I suspect this goes back to the days when it had a BBC under the hood and some of the hacking they did then.

 

This might help: https://www.v8buick.com/index.php?threads/replacing-a-fusible-link.325644/

 

Yep, that was where I got my part numbers. Thanks for that write up. Saved me a lot of fishing.