1972 C10 Cheyenne

[GeorgiaCountryBoy]

Hello!,
I have a 1972 C10 Cheyenne Long Bed with the V8 350 CID engine. I am having trouble starting it after it has been running for a little while. It starts up fine for the initial start and if I drive it around and then park for say 5-10 mins and come back to try and restart it I am having an issue with restart. It sounds like the starter is hard to turn. I have replaced the starter, solenoid, starting coil and the battery is holding a charge just fine. If I wait 30 mins and come back it will start right back up again with no issues.

I am a information security geek as my day trade and I have a mechanical engineering background but I am far from being a decent mechanic! I can read schematics and troubleshoot via google so you wont hurt my feelings if I have done something wrong or I am missing something silly! I really appreciate this forum because it has really helped me with this old truck! Thanks in advance for your help!

[LockDoc]

Welcome to the board!

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I would say it is one of two things.

Gas is boiling in the carb float bowl or the starter and solenoid are suffering from heat soak. When the starter and solenoid get hot it degrades performance.

I had the starter problem so I decided to get one of the mini starters so it would have more air space around the starter. I had no more hard starting problems after that.

Usually with the gas boiling in the float bowl problem it will show up after setting and idling for a period of time and the temp rises. When you accelerate after setting at idle for a while the engine will run fine for a minute or so then start running really crappy and will not accelerate. It acts like it is starving for fuel, which it is. You can usually cure this problem by installing a 3/4 or 1" phenolic spacer under the carb.

Just a couple of things to think about.

LockDoc

[jerry moss]

double check your battery connections-especially the battery to block ground.

[GeorgiaCountryBoy]

I just put a new starter on yesterday so I hope it is not heat soak but I can't rule it out. I don't have any issues with the engine running poorly so I think I can eliminate the fuel boiling in the bowl problem. Thank you so much for replying and offering your experience LockDoc!

[GeorgiaCountryBoy]

Jerry M,
Thanks for the suggestion. I am going to double check all of the wires related to starting. This truck needs a total wiring replacements. I just can break down and spend the bucks on the nice painless wiring harness. I have clean up a bunch of it but the right thing to do is to replace it all. Thanks for your advice I will report back my findings.

[68350]

Is this by chance an edelbrock carb?

[GeorgiaCountryBoy]

Yes Sir, It is.

[68350]

Also do you have headers on your engine? What's your timing set at?

[68350]

If you're not running a spacer under your carburetor its most likely having a fuel boiling issue. Does it start easier if you push the throttle all the way to the floor after the engine is warm?

[GeorgiaCountryBoy]

I will take some detail pictures to help determine if I have a spacer or not. When I try to restart it is acts like the starter is struggling to turn. I dropped a new battery in today since the old one was 5 years old. I will give it a test drive and report back later with the pictures.