Topic: Won't Start.

[86cookiemonster]

I have a 78 and it was running perfect. I went out to go for a cruise today and hit the key and nothin.  I hit it again and heard a click from the colum, or at least that is where it sounded like it came from.  There was no sound from the starter.  It has plenty of juice from the battery and everything appears to be hooked up as far as neutral saftey, ignition switch.

Oh and if i hit the key enough times it will eventually fire up.  Any suggestions would help.

[kc79ta]

Check battery connections and all grounds. Check for 12v at the purple at the starter. You will need someone to turn the key to the start position. This will tell you if all your switches are working, and your starter crapped out.

[UnderDog403]

Sounds like good ole' GM hot start.
What I do to cure hot start:
- Make sure all connections having to do with the starting circuit are clean, and corrosion free, like kc79ta said.

-Install either a heat shield, or a starter blanket. The blanket fixed my hot start problems.

-If that doesn't fix it, you could install a remote mount solenoid, like on the old fords. Notice they almost never suffer from hot start?? The GM solenoid gets cooked every time the car runs, and if you have headers, it's even worse.

Heat causes resistance... so naturally, the hotter the solenoid, the more resistance..

[ta78w72]

The heat soak I got caused the starter to crank but crank very slowly.  I replaced the starter and that solved the problem.

[crazyd_wv]

x2... just did the same thing.

[hada76]

Sounds like good ole' GM hot start.
What I do to cure hot start:
- Make sure all connections having to do with the starting circuit are clean, and corrosion free, like kc79ta said.

-Install either a heat shield, or a starter blanket. The blanket fixed my hot start problems.

-If that doesn't fix it, you could install a remote mount solenoid, like on the old fords. Notice they almost never suffer from hot start?? The GM solenoid gets cooked every time the car runs, and if you have headers, it's even worse.

Heat causes resistance... so naturally, the hotter the solenoid, the more resistance..

from what i read sounds like a cold start prob. i say a bad connection somewhere

[Grand73Am]

It could be that the ignition switch is bad. You may already know that the ignition switch is the one mounted on the column tube about halfway down the column, under the dash...not the key switch.
But, it could be that the ignition switch is still good, but the ignition actuator plastic gear(ignition lock sector gear) in the top part of the column is stripped, so it's not moving the rod to the switch dependably.