Had this problem for a year now.

All the new stuff:
New current battery is an Interstate heavy duty about a year old now.
The most amount of cranking amps available.
Did it with the old battery too and a new Die Hard Gold. All new cables.
I even added an extra ground strap.
New relay. All grounds cleaned and sanded several times. Tried 3 new starters. Tried a heat shield blanket wrap.

Problem: Starts fine when cold. After it's been runnig and I shut it
off to go in a store and go to restart there is a slight pause like
it doesn't want to crank and then it cranks. It seems to take all the
available juice to get it to crank over.

Yesterday I went to get gas and it did the pause routine but did not
crank this time. It did the pause and then went dead.
I was thinking the starter was too hot. Tried to let it cool
and retried starting. I retired too much and wore the battery down.

Everything is to factory speck - exhaust, stock rebuilt 302 I put
in about 2 years ago. Alternator brand new last year and works
according to the volt meter I hooked up when the engine was running.
No other electrical problems.

I'm thinking about trying a high torque mini starter because it
might be a little further from the heat and might use less cranking amps.
Can't figure whay it's doing what it does when everything is new
and as been checked 10 times or more.

Any ideas why it has the pause problem?
Any thoughts or experience with mini starters?

THANKS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

If you havent changed the cables try this simple little test. Just add a jumper cable between positive on the battery & starter relay etc. & see what it does.

 

Hi: The battery cables are brand new but will check out and try what you suggest. Thanks !

 

I dont know anything about the high torque starters, but since the cables are new it does sound like a bad starter.

 

Thanks again for your reply. The frustrating part is this is a least the 3rd
starter.

 

Hope you didn't spend all your money on replacing good parts, but this very common problem can be solved by a bosch-type (horn) relay. I think that because engines are hotter,the environment is way hotter (due to our endless combustion), and possibly shodier workmanship, the solenoids cannot handle the heat.
Try this: when it happens next just ground the battery post on the starter to the solenoid post-you can set up a remote starter with alligator clips just to be ready-if the starter works, just add the relay and your problems are forever gone.
Relay has 4 posts on it. The "switched" part has two post on it and one gets the thick battery terminal while the other gets the solenoid. The "switch" partne gets the starter terminal, while the other is ground.

 

Hi: Thanks for your reply. I'm not fully understanding. I think you
are saying to jump the relay from the starter side to the battery side
but not following the rest. I guess if I do this it would crank the engine.
I guess I should do that with the ignition switch in the one postion
and then take off the jumper once it starts?

Or are you saying to add another relay?

THANKS !!

 

Actually, you can try to jump the solenoid on the starter with the thick battery post which is also on the starter. If this works when the engine is hot, that means you have to add another relay (not a Ford) but a bosch one near the starter to give the solenoid an extra boost. That's basically the problem, the solenoid can't overcome the heat with the weaker amps of the thin wire from the ignition switch.

 

I would not waste any money on gee-wiz bang starters and add-on relays if your set-up is completely stock, which you said it was. There are millions of Fords running around completely stock(I have two) which start fine with regular starters and stock components.

I have been through this before with another brand of car, and I had to keep telling myself the above paragraph over and over. There are a couple of things you can try.

Make sure you are getting 12 volts on the white wire going to the ignition module when the engine is cranking. The white wire tells the module to retard the timing to make the engine turn over easier.

Put a timing light on the engine and check the timing. Check the base timing, and then rev the motor with the timing light on the marks, and see if they advance when you rev it. If the initial timing is too advanced, it will make it hard to crank. If the timing doesn't advance like it should, then the weights in the dist may be stuck, making the timing too advanced.

The only other thing I have seen cause this is a small exhaust leak over the starter. It will puff hot exhaust gas down on the starter, overheating it. But I would say this would probably not be your problem, since you said you put a blanket on the starter.

If you want to do a little test, when it's hot and not cranking very well, take the positive wire off the coil. Then try cranking it and see how fast it turns.

 

Thanks Dave. I'll check the white wire and will also do the little test.
I have the base timming set to factory spec according to the emissions
decal plus anymore advance and I get pings.

The distributor is a completely rebuilt and blueprinted and custom curved OEM style.
A shop I know built it for me according to the specs of the truck, weight, engine, etc.

The exahust is all new too.

When the engine is cold, it starts perfect without any hesitation.

Thanks again...

 

Not to disagree with Franklin2's knowledge about all those components....,but I have to take issue with not trying a relay if all else fails. It seems that you have tried almost everything and there are still problems; if the timing retard is ok go with the relay it only cost~$6.

 

All the suggestions are valid and GREATLY APPRECIATED.
Last night was the breaking point.! It was not too bad of a problem
in the cooler winter months but now that it's been hot outside, the problem
has magnified. So frustrating whan almost everything is brand new.

 

I re-read my post and the statement I made does seem a little harsh. Sorry about that. Relays and high torque starters, as well as starter blankets have their place. But as designed, the factory stock motor in normal circumstances, should not need them.

 

Franklin,

I have the same problem, but I don't have a stock motor. I have a '53 F100 with a '79 Ford 400, bored and stroked to 434. It has 10.8:1 static CR, Headers, and EFI using a Ford EEC-IV computer and a TFI distributor.

I run #2 AWG cables from the battery +/-, and also Solenoid to starter. I have recently replaced the Solenoid with no improvement.

I have found a High Torque Mini-starter made for a 92-97 460. I would replace my OEM starter, but I am not sure that the late model 460 starter will work. In '79 the 400 and 460 use the same starter, but later 460s use a different starter.

My question is: Will a starter made for a 92-97 460 work in a '79 400/460?

 

I am not sure, you may have to get one and try it. You can always take it back if it doesn't fit. If it will bolt up, it probably will need a little bit of re-wiring, since it seems most of the late model Ford starters have solenoids on them(like GM starters).

With headers, you probably will need a heat shield of some kind. I have found a piece of aluminum flashing tied around the starter helps, though not very elegant, and you need to make sure it's out of the way of the wiring terminals.