Starter Heat Soak ?

Kevin,
I read that as well, and can't tell at the time he wrote that if he had driven it enough to get it hot, or he was just commenting on how it starts cool?
I'm leaning toward a tight engine, but am not there to lay my eyes and hands on it.
Buzz, from he previous post not understanding how and what an ammeter reads, expecting to have a VAT or know what it is telling him is not likely. Good to know but not likely to have the equipment.

Not sure what's going on, not enough info, I did sell this young man, rings or bearings, don't member. Good guy./ He went thru to find the piston dude, had them made, and I was amazed. I hope the ring gap was in tolerance.

ok here's some info.

My battery group size is 1. Seems that might not be to spec. Does a battery naturally become weaker as engine gets hot? Again it works fine on cold start. My charged battery reads 6.4V and it was load tested multiple places and both said it was good. Now I'm thinking the next step might be a new correctly sized high cranking amp battery. Agreed?

Regarding the heat blanket link.....I'm thinking that may be next if correct battery doesn't solve it.

I live in an area where if I call around enough there is surely someone with the Sun VAT-40 thingy. I'll see how a new battery fairs first.

In regards to how this thread came about since my last posting. I got the truck to start on its own Friday evening. It was dark so I let it idle for a few minutes and only drove a mile up the road and back. Apparently that wasn't enough heat to make hard start because when I got home and shut it off I immediately started it again. Made the thread next morning. That next evening is when the hard hot start came to the surface.

Does anybody have a recommendation for a correctly sized high cranking amp battery for this truck? I was looking at the Optima a while back but I don't think I want one of those. I did find an Interstate but now I can't find it again. I like Interstate.

Found it. Interstate M-4. I just measured and it would fit, barely.

Size:4
1185 CA
950 CCA


https://www.interstatebatteries.com/pro ... oryid=true

A group 4 is about as big a battery as you can fit on a smaller truck, CCA of 950 would be on low to medium range most I see are around 1000 CCA. Group 2 is half way between often around 650CCA.
If you have a group 1 in there now, it is something around 350 CCA. barely enough if it rolls over easy. Current draw on a series motor decreases with speed. torque also decreases with speed, so if it can't get spinning quickly it's current draw will stay high. Bad for the starter, bad for the battery.
I would see how stiff the engine turns when warm (hot) compared to cool, If it is not too stiff than fit a bigger battery. Try the thing that doesn't cost you any money 1st (see if the engine is stiff when hot vs. cold), then spend money if you need too.

Ok will check tightness first

I just looked at my battery again. It’s an exide. Size 1. 750 ca. 625 cca.

I don't remember the spec's for batteries off the top of my head, so I could be off.
Other than the family car, only my 2 K's have battery cranking. One already had the battery box enlarged, so it got a group 4, the other was stone stock so it gets a group 2.
My three semi's, 2 have air start, one is cranked by a supercapacitor. Most of my battery purchases are for deep cycle batteries.

I've got a group 2, 6 volt battery with double aught cables as recommended to me on this site. Hot or cold the truck starts right up.

The 4 days caught my attention , maybe if you try starting only when cold for a while and running just a little at temp , breaking it in ,,, ? My truck had tight rings and would get hot at first so I babied it , took a while , I did use start up motor oil as recomended by the builder , everything new ,tight ,sharp , really thrashes that oil , took a while to smooth things out .

The 4 days caught my attention , maybe if you try starting only when cold for a while and running just a little at temp , breaking it in ,,, ? My truck had tight rings and would get hot at first so I babied it , took a while , I did use start up motor oil as recomended by the builder , everything new ,tight ,sharp , really thrashes that oil , took a while to smooth things out .

The motor has actually been in for a couple months now. Friday was just the first I've been able to start it with the starter. I did pull start it a few times before that. Let it idle quite a bit. And probably have about 80 miles on it by now. It definitely "loosened" up since I've run it. Like CB89 mentioned though, I should check it once it gets hot to see if it gets tighter.