You’re out for summertime classic car cruise with your car club and the first stop is a meet and greet at a local restaurant. Next, it’s onto a car show where you’ll proudly showcase your freshly waxed and polished ride to all of your new and old car buddies. Oh wait, no you won’t – your car won’t start again!
This happens all of the time when it gets hot, so why worry? Well, the embarrassment and inconvenience of having a car that won’t start in the heat or after the engine bay has heated the wiring from driving around isn’t something you have to live with — here’s why.
What’s the Issue?
There’s probably nothing wrong with your car, per se, when this happens. It’s likely not a bad fuel pump, your alternator is fine, and there’s nothing wrong with the engine. This kind of issue – when heat affects how quickly your hot rod starts – is an electrical fault. It’s a defect in your wiring harness.
The real issue is that the wiring for your starter isn’t quite cutting it. The starter wire’s gauge is too small, and when it gets nice and hot, it has too much resistance to effectively activate the starter. As a result, the starter won’t crank and your ride won’t go.
Are Hot Start Kits the Answer?
You’ve probably seen them around – a kit thrown together and called a “hot start kit”, promising to remedy these issues on your modified classic or muscle car. The kits claim to eliminate slow cranking due to engine heat and delivery and offer an extra 12V of cranking power, but we recommend you avoid these kits. Promising to work by boosting amperage to the starter solenoid AND easy to install? We’re just not buying it!
Most buyers of these kits describe them as being “duds” and a “waste of money” — that’s because they are a gimmick and you can’t skirt around the real problem.
Hot Rod Wires® Harnesses Prevent These Problems
Most hot start problems can be prevented by using the correct wiring harness when modifying your classic automobile. Leaving an aging or low quality harness on a modified car just makes no sense. In addition to causing problems with starting in the heat, they also host a series of other problems.
Hot Rod Wires® offers high-quality wiring harnesses and other electrical parts that greatly reduce the occurrence of hot start problems. When it comes to electrical issues, you can rest assured that your Hot Rod Wires® parts are never going to cause hot start issues. We use a 12 gauge starter wire to keep the starter energized at every start, which means your engine will start even when it’s warm or hot. Hot Rod Wires® also has a full line of wiring, switches, harnesses, etc. to keep your whole system running with the correct current.
If you have any questions about hot start problems and how a wiring harness from Hot Rod Wires® can prevent these issues, our technical support is available 7 days a week – give us a call at (972) 240-6851!
