Starter Booster, I hate to revisit this topic, but... Options

[black914]

I have found this topic through a search but my question remains unanswered! I went down to the Queen City yesterday to do a repair on my son's 924S. The trip is essentially 85 miles of 65 miles per hour non-stop driving. When I arrived and rested for about thrity minutes, we decided to go get something to eat first, got in the 914, turned the ignition switch and no turnover. The fuel pump was operating but the starter was not getting the signal. I let it cool for a while, attempted to crank it again and it fired right away. We ran a few errands and made about three stops requiring the engine to be turned off and restarted and I encountered no problems. Went home later in the day around 6:30PM, traveled the miles at 65 steady for about one hour, stopped to get a cola, got back in, attempted to crank it, but again, nothing. Fortunately a good samaritan help me push it off and I got it cranked okay. I got home safely.

I notice that Bosch has encountered this problem before and they have offered a starter booster kit that cures the hot starter problem by boosting the voltage to the starter. My 914 has a remanufactured starter (don't know the age because it was installed by the previous owner).

Would this cure my problem? Apparently it has been a problem in the past or Bosch would not have offered a cure.

Comments?

[SLITS]

If you have ever taken an automotive solenoid apart, you would see that the contacts are massive compared to the square Bosch relays. I haven't broken open a Ford, but I would assume it is designed along the same lines as any starter solenoid and the contacts would be larger and beefier.

Yep, I'm dreamin!

Oh, to test the Ford solenoid itself, you merely hook the (-) lead of a battery pack (or such) to the mounting plate of the solenoid. Take the (+) and hook it to one of the large terminals. Take a wire from the (+) terminal and touch each of the small studs on the solenoid. One will make it click if it's functional. You can also leave the power attached, and with a VOM, measure the voltage at the other large terminal and small terminal. With the solenoid engaged, they should both read the battery voltage you are using.

[bulitt]

You really don't need the 'Ford relay'. You can use the small square 25A general purpose relays hanging up on blister packages at your local FLAPS for a starter solenoid relay. You can see mine connected in the upper right corner of this picture:

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