Karma

[Brad Sewell]

It was a picture perfect day in Eastern North Carolina. The sun was shining bright, the skies were Carolina Blue and with temperatures in the high 70's I decided to play hooky from work this afternoon and take the car for a spin.

Well, karma is a bitch, isn't it?

I pick up the ZR-1 and head home to pick up my wife. The top is out and she hops in with a big smile for her first ride. No start.

This is the 3rd no start -- so I am seeing a pattern. It happens once every 10-20 starts and only when the car is hot. I should just go back to work, but at this point I am committed. We give it an hour to cool and try it again. Crickets.

I push it up the driveway, let it roll back down, pop the clutch in 2nd and she comes alive.

So we got to enjoy the car a little today anyway. When I parked it in the garage at the end of the day, it started three times. Perhaps I paid my cosmic dues.

http://i1170.photobucket.com/albums/r535/brad_sewell/Snapbucket/36F32064.jpg

[rhipsher]

All I have to say is Mmmwwwahahahah! Don't you just love it. Brother let's talk about no start. It will leave you hanging at the worst possible times everytime. The first time I experienced it was at the drag strip. Got my tech card and was ready to race and No Start. I had to wait 3 hours before it would start. I made 4 runs down the strip and the next day I replaced the starter and never ever had no start again. Its the starter solenoid. You can either buy the kit to rebuild the solenoid or just spend the $129 and get a new starter and solenoid and be done with it.

[Kevin]

sounds like the clutch switch

[rhipsher]

sounds like the clutch switch But notice the key words he says "Only happens when the engine is hot". That's the starter solenoid waving bye bye.

[XfireZ51]

But notice the key words he says "Only happens when the engine is hot". That's the starter solenoid waving bye bye.

Rebuild starter.

[Kevin]

But notice the key words he says "Only happens when the engine is hot". That's the starter solenoid waving bye bye.

mine did the same thing. was the clutch switch. would only do it after driving in trafic

[Brad Sewell]

Voltage fluctuates with the clutch.

[rhipsher]

mine did the same thing. was the clutch switch. would only do it after driving in trafic If you turn the key on and have voltage going through the purple wire going to the started that means you have juice going to the starter. In that case its not the clutch switch.

[Paul Workman]

Voltage fluctuates with the clutch.

Voltage fluctuating with the clutch = starter solenoid, not the switch...Bet money on it!;)

P.

[chriskinzel]

I have had the same problem 3 times. After being stranded twice i bypassed the clutch switch and the VATS and it stii happened the next time I drove it:mad: ii guess the starter is the only thing left. I have never pulled the plenum, but I guess it's time to give it a try.

[Paul Workman]

A word about rebuild kits off ebay...

From what I gathered from posts here - somewhere at about 40k miles issues arise with the solenoid: to be more precise, the two copper contact posts and in particular the copper ring that bridges them when the starter is engaged.

However, the kit I received turned out not to have the correct length pin that links between the sliding armature block and the starter gear. As result, the stater gear would not full engage the FW ring gear; maybe 1/2 at best!

The high current electrical connections consist of two copper posts and a copper ring that bridges the two posts together when the solenoid is energized by the start current (current via ye ol' purple wire, so often discussed). The old posts were badly erroded; one worst than the other resulting in the copper ring (bridge) being tilted a little due to the uneven height of the contact points. In addition, there was considerable amount of what appeared to be carbon tracing and pock marks burned onto the surface of the bridge ring.

In the end, I opted to use the new posts from the kit and resurface the copper ring. With some emery cloth over a piece of wood block, and a little elbow grease, the ring was good as new in only a few minutes. Thus, I was able to overhaul the solenoid contacts and retain the original (correct) link.

In the end, I ran across a written procedure describing exactly what I had done, and on ebay I found just the copper posts for the solenoid going for $6.00 for the pair.

I can report that my starter is working fine, now at 49k miles. So, unless there is a problem with the internal wiring of either stators (solenoid or the starter motor itself), $6.00 for new contacts and a cleanup of the bridge ring may be all you need for some time.

BUT! ...I'm just sayin...If you buy the rebuild kit (new posts and armature/ring), or even if you buy an new starter, you'll want to be sure the armature link pin in the solenoid is the same length as stock or else the starter gear my not fully engage the FW ring. If not, and the FW ring goes bad, then you can look forward to dropping the tranny and pulling the clutch apart...just for beginners, boy-yo-boy!

P.

[Paul in VA]

All of the above is good advice. I had a similar intermittent no start problem as well. In my car it turned out to be the small wire that goes from the ignition switch to the VATS was crushed. Sometimes it worked fine, sometimes I was at a gas station or wherever, waiting for VATS to recycle so as to restart my car. I had a locksmith come in and fix the problem.

[tomtom72]

All of the above is good advice. I had a similar intermittent no start problem as well. In my car it turned out to be the small wire that goes from the ignition switch to the VATS was crushed. Sometimes it worked fine, sometimes I was at a gas station or wherever, waiting for VATS to recycle so as to restart my car. I had a locksmith come in and fix the problem.

I had read about how our ignition lock & switch combo has too many wires crammed into too small a space and disaster is just a question of when and not if.

Thanks for this heads up Paul!:thumbsup:

:cheers:
Tom