After awhile, I need a jump start...

Question:

I have a 1959 Chevy Apache 283 with a starting problem and I’m looking for clues. When it’s cold, it starts perfectly, maybe with a little choke pulled out. But when I attempt to start it after driving and stopping, it takes a little cranking to get it going. By the 3rd or 4th stop on a trip, each successive start requires a little more cranking, so that by the 3rd or so start I have to get a jump start to get the truck going.

It will always start with the jump start; it just seems that after a few starts the battery isn’t producing enough juice to get it started. Other than carry a portable jump starter (which I do), do you have any suggestions as to what may be causing this problem?

Answer:

Electrical resistivity normally increases as temperature increases. The poor performance of your car’s starting system may be due to one or more parts getting increasingly hot. This commonly happens with the starter motor and starter solenoid, which are often perilously close to the exhaust parts. Battery cables also sometimes get very hot because of their proximity to the exhaust system.

Loose or corroded battery cable connections and undersized cables may also be contributing to your problem.

It’s also possible that a weak battery and/or poor charging system performance are causing or contributing to the hard starting problem.

Do a load test on the battery and a performance evaluation of the charging system to determine whether either or both have problems.