30 Apr 12 21:06, Roger Nelson wrote to Roy Witt:

 RN>> Something about the starter on her mother's car overheating and my
 RN>> ex told me it was going to cost her $500 to fix it.

 RW>> Wow! A re-manufactured starter doesn't cost more than $40-45.
 RW>> That's an awful lot of labor charged to R&R a starter.

 RN> While I was still in the work force, I remember something about a
 RN> recall on certain Chevy models because of the starter overheating.

That's been a Chevy problem ever since they offered V8s in their cars
and trucks. It's not necessarily a 'starter' problem, but a low voltage
problem due to the way they run the power. While Ford runs their battery
cable to a remote solinoid, GM mounts the starter solinoid to the starter.

GM's solinoid exciter wires have to run to the ignition switch, then to
the solinoid, where they get heated up by the exhaust running too close to
them.

The fix is to use a Ford remote solinoid to alleviate the voltage loss
across the GM solinoid. Of course GM won't do that, instead they put heat
shields on them.

 RN> I think they encased it in a protective wrapping of some kind or
 RN> installed a heat shield, but my memory of that is vague.

They used an asbestos wrap in the early years. Now they use a die cut
sheet metal shield. Which is interesting, because the shield heats up and
transfers the heat to the starter, defeating the purpose of the shield.

The best fix for this is to route the exhaust away from the starter, which
is what they've done since the mid-eighties. On my 56 Chevy, the exhaust
header pipes exited the center, thus running 4 hot tubes next to the
starter. I re-engineered that exhaust by using 1995 truck headers, which
gather at the back of the engine and run down behind the starter next to
the bell housing.

 RN>> That Chevy has been sitting for over a year now and I'm almost sure
 RN>> the engine isn't going to be functional when and IF she has it
 RN>> repaired.

 RW>> Why non-functional? Something else wrong with it?

 RN> The engine has not been run in almost two years now.

Bet it will fire right up if someone takes the time to change oil and
coolant, maybe put in a set of plugs and wires.



                R\%/itt


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