Hot Start Problem

[eieiooo]

When cold, the engine of my '97 Disco SD turns over briskly, fires right up, and runs great. After parking for a short while, with the engine stilll hottish, the starter turns slugishly and threatens not to start ... until it's final gasp then it does fire up and run normally. My fear is that someday soon, it will refuse to start and leave me stranded. This car is begging for some attention! What should I do?

 

[joey]

As I recommended in the Intro forum... battery or starter.

 

[eieiooo]

Yes Joey .... to begin by checking the battery is a good idea. Will do that tomorrow. Though I can't understand why it would labor more with a hot engine than with a cold.
Thanks for your input.
Bill

 

[joey]

A LR battery is normally only good for around 4 or 5 years, anything more than that and odd things start happening.

 

[eieiooo]

Hot Strat Problem

As the battery in my Disco was over five years old, I went ahead and installed a replacement. So far, so good. Let's see how it operates during the next few day before popping the champagne cork.
Bill

 

[richpike]

Other issues for a hot start problem could be the starter solenoid. But this is typically "binary" - meaning it will either turn over, or it won't. Basically the heat affects the solenoid and keeps the starter from turning over (I believe this is what happens). When it cools down, it will work like normal.

Since it sounds like yours still turns over, but is just sluggish, I am thinking Joey is right - sounds like a battery that is about dead.

Good luck.

-Rich