Murder Van Cleef

Hi guys, I hate one problem more than any with vehicles.....no start issues! Here's my situation.
I have a 1987 G20 Van, 305 out of a 1992 Caprice Classic cop car. I recently added a second battery and when I went to relocate the positive amp wire to my battery switch, the previous owner had tapped it directly to the starter solenoid! When I removed it, the stud broke and I had to replace the solenoid. The first attempt to start did nothing, not even a click! Measured voltage, it was 12v when key turned, went back and got another solenoid and everything worked great. Now before we get ahead of ourselves, the second battery is NOT connected to the starter in any way and SHOULD have absolutely nothing to do with my current issue, it's wired to a switch to use when I'm parked and can jump the stock battery, but no wiring was tinkered with which would cause starting issues at all.

So a problem free month has gone by and I take a ride about 10 miles down the highway to the store. It was a fairly hot day (about 91 degrees or so), and when I come back out the van does nothing when I turn the key......I figured the solenoid had gone bad again (they only had the cheap one when I returned the defective one). So I had a buddy pick me up, gathered tools, stopped by parts store and grabbed another solenoid, got back to my van and it started right up!!! WTF! Drove it home, tried again.....no start! Swapped the solenoid and still no start!!!! Tried again about an hour later and it started right up!!! So, I figure it's not the solenoid at this point, but can't figure out why the van won't start when it's hot. Should also throw in that I drove to my girlfriend's house which is about 5 miles away and though the temp was hot and normal, the van started right up, but anytime the highway is involved it won't start!

Anyone have any ideas?? It's all stock, no headers or dual exhaust, but the only thing I can find online is heat soaked starter, but it's mostly hot rodders having that issue so I kind of ruled it out. Also found possible dead cell in battery, but when I try to jump from second battery I assume that would get me started, but I could be wrong? Also, Neutral Safety Switch, but can't figure out why heat would affect that.......finally, a buddy says cracked distributor cap or bad coil, but not noticing any performance issues at all............please help, I've been busting my hump to get this thing camp ready for this summer and I'm losing my mind here!

canucklehead

Has the charging system been messed with? Are you getting the right solenoid? Is it wired correctly?

Murder Van Cleef

Thanks for the reply, I ended up changing the starter and solenoid and that seemed to fix the problem. Of course, they gave me the wrong starter and I had to do the job twice and that had me worrying that I wasted my time, but it seems to be fine now. I just didn't want to waste money throwing parts at it and guessing and not getting anywhere, but it seemed that the problem had to be at that end of the starting system. All good now, and got through my big camping weekend that I was so desperately trying to get it running properly for. Again, thanks for trying to help!!

Squigie

A single dead or low cell in a battery can absolutely murder the circuit, even with a jumper battery hooked up. Depending on what's wrong with the bad battery, it can act as a huge resistor, a short, or a massive capacitor - all of which will rob juice from the good battery, and negate the benefits of the extra battery.


That being said....
If the problem comes back, check the ignition switch. Those ignition switches get corroded contacts, the brushes wear very quickly if exposed to a lot of grit, and sometimes the plastic internals just break. Problems generally show up as an intermittent starting issue, rather than a complete failure (since that contact is most prone to corrosion, and requires the most movement).