Starter relay or no starter relay, Been reading up for an hour and still don't know!! Options

[David Stowers]

On two occasions recently on pulling onto my driveway after a long journey my car won't restart after turning off to unlock the garage door. Luckily I can then just push the car in but with a European tour booked in the summer I'd like to sort the problem.
When I get back in after opening the garage the lights on the dash dim when I turn the key to start but there is no click. 20 minutes later it will start right up. Is this the problem that will be solved by a hot start relay kit or just a good old fashioned sticky solenoid? I'd rather do just the relay or just replace the solenoid so which is it?
Thanks guys

[stugray]

You have to admit... installing the "helper" relay to drive the solenoid is kind of funny since the solenoid is a relay itself:

12V 12V 12V
| | |
Ign Switch -> Relay -> Relay -> Starter


Hmm... my whitespace in the lines above doesnt show up.
Anyway I was trying to show that a separate 12V source feeds each relay in that chain

[Mark Henry]

You have to admit... installing the "helper" relay to drive the solenoid is kind of funny since the solenoid is a relay itself:

12V 12V 12V
| | |
Ign Switch -> Relay -> Relay -> Starter


Hmm... my whitespace in the lines above doesnt show up.
Anyway I was trying to show that a separate 12V source feeds each relay in that chain

Not really, the Bosch solenoid takes a full 9V to make it open. When the car was new, or in it's expected life of less than 10 years, the stock system has no problem with this.
The ford solenoid takes less than 3V to open, giving a full 12V to the Bosch solenoid, causing way less "strain" on the system.
You can't just replace the Bosch solenoid as it also has the bendex.

This fix has been around since the 70's, on the bug maybe even the 60's, it's not rocket science.