My CA18 will turn over very well when the engine is COLD but once its warm the starter has a hard time trying to turn it over


Any Ideas ???????

mine is the same, will be interesting to hear answers

"hard time trying to turn it over" -- do you mean it cranks slowly? Or that it cranks normal speed but doesn't fire up (start)?

Slow cranking when hot usually means the factory heat shield for the starter is missing. I don't know if the S13 used a heat shield, but that's a common problem with some other engines.

Another common cause is bad cable connections. Resistance goes up with heat, so removing the cables and sanding the ends and nuts down to bright metal will fix this particular cause. Do this for both the POS and NEG battery cables. Also scrape the battery terminals and cable ends down to bright metal. Treat the bright metal with non-corrosive spray of a light coating of clean oil or grease, it will help the connections stay good for another year or so.

Less common causes are ring-gap that is too tight, or engine bearings that are too tight, or worn out starter bush. Sometimes worn starter brushes will cause this.

I have put in a second earth from the battery to the plenum and down to one of the bolts that holds the starter motor ... see if that helps

other than that it needs a decent tune up as it is not very responsive to acceleration

A 2nd earth to the engine is unnecessary. If properly clean and attached, a single earth works perfectly fine.

Datsun 1200 from the factory had one earth to the engine timing cover (NEG battery cable) and a small earth to the body bolted to the horn bracket.

It may be unnecessary but if it fixed the problem who cares.

He's got an auto CA in the Ute dd so it may need more earthing

CA18DET has a single engine earth/ground in the S13.

Yes, by all means fix the problem -- either directly by cleaning the POS and NEG connections, or indirectly by running additional wires.

I am suspecting worn bushes in the starter but I had an extra earth cable lying around

extra cable made no difference

oh well !

does the EXA starter motor plug straight in ... it is also CA18 so I think it should

Yes, not suprised than an extra earth wire won't help. The POS wire is more problematic under symptoms like this. Have you cleaned it?

But there are other possible causes. Why not just start replacing parts? Begin with the starter. Since you must remove the POS cable to replace the starter, sometimes putting the same starter back in fixes it!