I need a little help here. I have an '86 fullsize Bronco. 302/AOD. I can go out right now, first thing in the morning, and the crank the truck right up. I can drive about 3 miles up the road to the McFastfood and shut if off and leave it for about 5-10mins and come back out and it wont crank. Acts as if the battery is dead. But it isnt. It will roll over, but it's very very very sluggish and wont spin fast enough to start. I can sit there for about 20 mins and it will crank right over and start just fine. This kind of thing will happen no matter what the outside temp is. I drive to work in the morning and can go out 4 hrs later at lunch and it will start right up.
The truck has a brand new battery in it. Said battery is a little bit on the small side (IMO), but I wouldnt think that a stock 302 would need a huge battery to spin over. Also, when it's not wanting to start, I can hook a jump box or even put jumper cables onto another truck and it doesnt change anything. I've pulled the starter off and had it rebuild by a reputable rebuilder and nothing changed.

I've had this problem for a while but it really hasnt ever mattered because with the way things were, it just didnt matter. Well, life has changed and it matters now. I basically have to leave the truck running unless I know for a fact that I am going to be somewhere for longer than 30-45mins.

Any ideas?


*sidenote here. For those that I have talked with before here, sorry not having posted in so long. my wife walked in out of nowhere a few months back and announced we were getting divorced. so I havent been in the best state of mind and just havent been able to keep up with things (such as this site) like I used to.*

 

The starter is draging or you have a bad conection. I had a truck that did that all winter before I put anther starter in it. I used to pull it down the road to get it going sometimes. Good Luck!

 

I doubt that anything is wrong with the starter. Just mainly because I had the same issue before and after I had the thing rebuilt. And I know that my guy at the rebuild shop is doing his job.

A connection. why would it only do that when warm or hot though? A guy at work suggested that ground may not be sufficient. He was telling me to look and see if there is ground cable going from the negative terminal to the block directly. I just woke up so I haven't went and looked at that yet. I dont really understand how that would matter (ground is ground right?) but I'm going to look anyway. The last thing I can afford to do right now is drop it off at a shop and tell them to "fix it".

any other ideas for me to check? can the engine have too much compression when warm? I had a guy at a gas station tell me the other day that the engine sounded good, he said it was "timed right and that makes it sound sweet". Sounds normal to me, but could it be something with the timing? I wouldnt think so because I dont have the problem when cold.

 

It could be the timing That was ganna be the next thing I was gonna say...may be to far advanced Try to retard it a bit when it wont start and see if that does it. Also I always put my ground on one of the starter bolts.

Good luck!

 

What temperature is it there, and what is the CCA on your battery? Also what brand is it?

I ask just to elminate it. My battery is somewhat small (IMO) with 525CCA and one cold morning after sitting for maybe 48 hours, it wouldn't crank. It hasn't done it since then, but I had to boost it off that day. You wouldn't think your battery would give you problems after you've driven it and built up its charge.

Do you ever have to boost it off?

A guy had a problem like this in an '80 something lincoln with a 302, and he brought it to us. Said he had put a new battery and a new alternator, and it was still doing it. Ended up being a fuseable link. So, check that one.

 

The battery that's in it now is a 725cca DieHard. It's brand new. Before, there was a 650cca battery in it. I had the DieHard on hand so I swapped them, the problem stayed. I've tried using a booster box when it wont start and it doesnt matter. I've also tried actually jumping it from another truck and nothing changes.

It seems like if I open the hood a little bit it wont have to sit as long. But I've not actually timed that so it may just seem that way.

It's been in the mid 30's here in the morning and it starts right up. But after I drive for a little bit (engine warms up) that's when I have the problem.

I have noted that it seems to be getting worse.. by that, I mean that I used to could drive 10-15 mins and shut it off and it would start back. Now, I can drive it less than 10 mins and I'll have to sit there for about 30 mins before it will start again.

Something to add here. When it wont crank it acts, feels, sounds like the battery is dead (really low). But after about 30 mins, it will spin right over and start up. Everytime. I need to get off my **** today and go play with it some. I just hate to get off into it and not really know what I'm looking for.

 

Grounds are very important... just as important as the hot wire because electricity needs a complete circuit to flow. Make sure the battery and engine are grounded with heavy wire to each other and the frame.

 

I had the same problem on a car several years ago. Changing the battery helped for a while. When the problem happened again, I disconnected the cable from the starter and put one end of a jumper cable on that terminal, The starter would still drag when I connected the other end of the jumper to the battery. That problem never occurred again after I replaced the starter. I believe engine heat caused the starter to drag.

Anything in the electrical path to the starter can cause your problem. I have seen bad battery cables that appeared to be OK. The starter solenoid can be defective.

Good luck.