Cooking starter soleniod cables

[Tony Martyr]

The cables connecting my K series starter motor soleniod have moderatly cooked and melted insulation. I trying to disconnect the cables so as to slip over reflective heat sleeve I have found that the plastic moulding on the end of the unit is embrittled and cracking.

I can bolt this particular stable door but probably need to replace the soleniod unit although neither this nor the motor have given trouble.

1. Is the soleniod unit a seperate spare or does it come complete with motor ?

2. Are there alternative starter units with the soleniod below and in a cooler position?

What is the recommended fix before failure in addition to heat wrapping exhaust etc

[Julian Thompson]

Tony

 

During the build of my car I did notice that the exhaust was sat "on top" of the starter and so I purchased some nice "Thermo Sleeve" for the solenoid lead and +ve battery cable. In addition I wrapped the starter in some nice heat reflective blankety stuff and also wrapped my exhaust in ThermoTec. Underbonnet temps seem really good.

 

Dereck Moore@Cat midands assures me I've done the wrong thing with the exhaust wrap because

 

1) The wrap increases noise and made it tough to SVA

2) The wrap on the starter is going to hold heat in

 

I disagree with the 2nd statement (I think?) because surely the engine block doesn't get hotter than about 100ish degrees, so even if the wrap does insulate the starter the temperature will just gradually come down from this, rather than absolutely cooking its todger off underneath the 2000 degree (dunno but bloody hot) exhaust!

 

 

[V7 SLR]

Tony, I'm not sure what type of starter I've got. Perhaps we can gather around it next week?

 

I agree with Julian's decision to wrap the starter. I've seen some fluffy stuff that is self adhesive on one side (to stick to the starter) and covered in silvered something-or-other on the other side. Perfect for this.

 

My jury's still out on exhaust lagging.

 

Worcs L7 club joint AO.//Membership No. 4379//Azure Blue SLR No. 0077//Se7ens List Tours

 

 

Edited by - V7 SLR on 2 Aug 2002 09:34:33

[Mick Day]

Tony

 

Do a search on starters etc as this has been discussed before. Basically there are 3 starters available:

 

1. Original part as supplied to your car. Comes from a Sierra with solenoid on top. Suffers from heat problems in solenoid with dry &/or broken joints which can be fixed.

2. Magneton starter (Skoda part) with solenoid underneath. Now supplied with heat shield for solenoid. Some people have reported solenoid sticking in bore but it can be taken apart & cleaned.

3. So called race starter.

 

2 & 3 can be supplied by Brise Fabrications or Demon Tweaks (or of course Caterham).

 

I've had problems with the wiring from the ignition switch to the starter (Magneton) solenoid. Briefly something is causing an increased resistance (switch or Vecta??) resulting in the solenoid refusing to play. Connect the solenoid directly to the battery & it works! Solution: connect a relay close to the battery fired by the orginal solenoid wire. With this remedy I had no problems starting on Le-Sept.

 

Mick

 

[Johnty Lyons]

You can take the solehoid off the starter and drill out the post that connects the activation feed, Then solder in-side the solenoid a new feed wire and heat shrink the joint,bringing the new cable out through the drilled hole and up to a lucar connector well away from the heat source Worked for me on my 190BHP K running with a competition exhaust system.The new activation wire can be routed behind the solenoid well away from the exhaust heat.

 

jj

N.I. L7C AO.

Membership No.3927.

[Tony Martyr]

Thanks Guys.

I will now take the thing apart and see how to reroute the cables.