<VV> Hot Starters

[Gary Mierzwa]

Thomas

One of the classic General Motors starter failure modes is:

1.  Cranks good cold.
2.  Cranks very slowly hot, draws high current hot

The cause is usually a short in the field winding of the starter motor.  The 
windings get hot, expand and eithor short out the internal windings, or 
short out to the starter frame.

The cure is new field windings, or a new starter.  If you get a new starter, 
get a starter with the "Long" field windings and swap the Corvair Nose cone 
on to it.  You can tell the long field winding version starter from the 
short field version by looking at the field terminal on top of the starter, 
where it screws on to the back of the solonoid.  If the terminal lines up 
right next to the solonoid terminal, it is the short field model.  If the 
field terminal is about 1/2 of an inch (1.5 mm) away and needs a short 
extension screw/tube, it is the long field version.

The long field starter was used on big block GM motors mostly.

Your starter may be suffering an severe case of this type fault.

Your guess of the solonoid may also be correct.
I have also seen this type symptom caused by:
     - Bad battery, heats up and fails, cools off and is ok again
     - starter to engine mounting bolts not tight enough
     - bad connections on the battery: Posts or Cables (either end, positive 
or negative)