[SSDan]

Originally Posted by chovaz

Mine has got so bad over the last month that I never know if it's going to start when I get in it after going somewhere.....

Last time there was a strong electrical burning smell coming from the engine compartment.

But it still jump starts and runs just fine....

Thinking of replacing the battery (still original in 2017 Camaro) as a (new) starting point.

EDIT: new fun fact....trying to start just now (tried about 3x) something right under the engine caught on fire. Couldn't see exactly what but could see the smoke and glow. Luckily had lawn hose nearby to put it out. Guess it's dealer time (again)

Oh man! I’m sorry you are still having problems with this. The smoke likely came from the starter/starter solenoid. My best guess is a new starter is needed and yes it’s time to replace that battery. Good luck and keep us posted.

[Streetsleeper]

Found this thread today after suffering from this issue for months now with the extreme heat in Kansas and it worked great! Thank you to all who contributed to this issue!

[Taco-Giz]

Originally Posted by chovaz

Mine has got so bad over the last month that I never know if it's going to start when I get in it after going somewhere.....

Last time there was a strong electrical burning smell coming from the engine compartment.

But it still jump starts and runs just fine....

Thinking of replacing the battery (still original in 2017 Camaro) as a (new) starting point.

EDIT: new fun fact....trying to start just now (tried about 3x) something right under the engine caught on fire. Couldn't see exactly what but could see the smoke and glow. Luckily had lawn hose nearby to put it out. Guess it's dealer time (again)

Same problem here. After 3 tries it smelled like something was burning. Now my taillights indicators stay on whenever I turn on my lights or I drive at night. I wonder what happened

[Streetsleeper]

Originally Posted by Streetsleeper

Found this thread today after suffering from this issue for months now with the extreme heat in Kansas and it worked great! Thank you to all who contributed to this issue!

I spoke to soon. Took it out this morning for a hard pull, came back home and immediately tried restarting the car and it was very slow cranking again. Battery is new as well so I’ll try the trunk and add another there. If that doesn’t work I really don’t know where to turn next.

[SSDan]

Originally Posted by Streetsleeper

I spoke to soon. Took it out this morning for a hard pull, came back home and immediately tried restarting the car and it was very slow cranking again. Battery is new as well so I’ll try the trunk and add another there. If that doesn’t work I really don’t know where to turn next.

In my 7.5 years of travel with this issue I found the following steps are what keep my hot start slow cranks at bay (keep in mind this is all driven by a starter that gets heat soaked and needs more cranking amps than when cold to overcome the resistance caused the overheated starter windings):
- Lowering the circuit resistance to allow the most current possible to get to the heat soaked starter. The extra ground cables give that.
-Having a battery that is capable of delivering the high demand for the cranking amps needed to push through the heat soak. If you take a lot of short trips (30 minutes or less) your battery is probably not getting and staying fully charged. I keep my battery on a battery charger all the time since I only drive the car two or three times a week. That way I know when I leave the garage I have a fully charged battery
- If you have had a lot of slow cranks over the life of the starter especially very slow cranks that end in a failed start then you likely have a starter that has some melted/damaged windings. If this has happened then the cranking amp demand when the starter is hot is even higher. The only solution for this is to replace the starter.

Bottom line - if a strong battery along with the added ground cable(s) does not cure this then you likely have a starter that is weak (damaged windings).

Good luck guys - this is a frustrating issue for sure.

[6spdhyperblue]

Originally Posted by SSDan

- If you have had a lot of slow cranks over the life of the starter especially very slow cranks that end in a failed start then you likely have a starter that has some melted/damaged windings. If this has happened then the cranking amp demand when the starter is hot is even higher. The only solution for this is to replace the starter.

Thanks for pointing this out. I think a lot of ppl don’t realize the damage that can occur to the starter if your battery is dead and do slow starts.

[indyz]

Update:
Original battery on a 2016 2SS. About 7-8 years old now.

Using a battery tender with desulfator has solved my slow crank issues. I use the tender for about a week, every month. Rest of the month, my car is outside the garage. I did not bother with the ground wire process. I do a lot of short drives, 5 miles or less.

TLDR: use a battery tender with desulfator.

[CalgaryZL1]

I just use a two amp charger over the winter and it seems to work

[302crossram]

Originally Posted by CalgaryZL1

I just use a two amp charger over the winter and it seems to work

I have the exact unit, great product

[Taco-Giz]

Originally Posted by Taco-Giz

Same problem here. After 3 tries it smelled like something was burning. Now my taillights indicators stay on whenever I turn on my lights or I drive at night. I wonder what happened

Well turns out i found out why my lights were going crazy.. https://www.camaro6.com/forums/showthread.php?t=619060


I also found out where it burned in the car...


I found some melted plastic in my trunk. the red cable got too hot and started melting the insulation around the other cables. I noticed that my 2 red cablea were cut too. Someone tried to make them 3 inches longer to put a different battery so they cut the original cables and twisted a smaller piece around it and put tape around it


Not sure if this was the work of the homologation as well or not but it's horrible. Does anyone know the actual length of that cable ? I'd like to replace it without passing through the stealership cause there's no Chevy where I live now.

[biggjonn]

@ssdan and all of the rest of my Bowtie Bruthers ... I'd like to THANK YOU for all of the info in this thread. For years I've read/heard about this issue but I never had it ... and thanked the bowtie gawds but then it happened. Matt (Lethal Camaro/Sledgehammer) chimed in on one of my posts on instagram and told me to add a better ground. So, I did that and also changed my starter relay. This thing spins over so fast, it makes me smile everytime I start it . . . . PROBLEM SOLVED!!! Thank You ... Thank You

[teddyca]

UPDATE: Welp I swapped the hi power relays and the car still was slow. It has been sitting for about a week now, has an added sub/amp and is blown so it is definitely drawing more current then normal. I also noticed at some point I did indeed add a second 8ga ground battery cable from the NEG post on the radiator support next to the fuse box down to a bolt on my tensioner pulley. I must of read that crap somewhere lol. I am going to just live with the lazy starter life. HAHA

Man I get alerts every time someone chimes into this thread and I usually ignore. I been driving the hell out of the C8 and wanted to let her rest a bit so I been in the Camaro the last 2 weeks, and it reminded me my starter sucks lol. I added a ground at the battery location, but never touched the starter relay and not quite sure I ever added a ground up front I will have to check later. I am going to go swap my "hi pwr" starter relay with the vacuum pump relay and see if that makes a difference for the hell of it. Its wild how this issue is such a real thing. My starts every time but I am sure folks around me think I need a battery lol. This is one of those better threads I have been involved in. Thanks everyone!!!

[SSDan]

I’m glad this thread keeps chugging along as there are many folks out there still struggling with this. There has been a lot of great input by many to give those struggling ideas and ways to cope with this.

Here is what I have learned over the last almost three years:

- Don’t ignore this - it won’t go away on its own. If you do ignore it you will eventually heat soak the starter to the point of failure
- Have and keep a good and fully charged battery. Use a battery charger if the car is going to sit for more than a few days. This is especially true if you make a lot of short drives 30 minutes or less). Short drives equal a battery that is often under charged.
- Reduce the starter circuit resistance to the lowest amount possible via the body to engine grounds (either check,clean, repair the factory grounds or take the easy path and add an additional ground cable).
- If with a good battery and ground you still have trouble you may need to change out the starter relay and/or starter.

[CalgaryZL1]

I know this isn’t related, but it is related, a neighbour of mine spent the last three years with his Yamaha twin motorcycle being the most complicated thing to start in the morning, took it in every season to have the carburetters done because he thought it was a fuel issue. This summer he took it to another technician and they upgraded his battery to a higher amp battery now it starts flawlessly, technically it wasn’t enough cc amps to get everything running to get the fuel going to the engine. Something as simple as this was overlooked by many technicians.