Local source for Painless Wiring Hot Shot?

Kevin B.

Kevin B.

Not often wrong. Never quite right.
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Stinkwater
Painless wants 10 bucks shipping on a 30 dollar part. I can have Autozone order it, but I hate to give Autozone money. Anybody have a local source for these?
 
Very easy to just build one. Buying new, good parts at Napa would cost you at least $40 though. If you want it good and on the cheap, head to the junk yards. Look around until you find a 20-30 amp relay mounted to a firewall that has a nice harness connector plugged into it. Cut the wires out of the harness with at least 6 inches of lead and you're set. If you can't find a good relay, use a ford starter relay. They are easy to find on any older fender or firewall.
 
That sounds appealing, but I'm not an electriciany guy. Can you be more specific on what parts I'd need to find? A 20-30 amp relay and socket, and then three wires, right? One from battery, one to the starter, and one from the ignition?
 
You are on the right track. One from the battery, and one to the starter. The ignition wire you speak of is really the original starter ("crank") wire. The forth, and last, wire is a ground wire. If you use a ford relay, it should be grounded through the mount so then you would only have four wires.

So the way it works on a normal relay is pin 85 and 86 run the magnet. Hook your ground and old crank wire to them. Then hook your FUSED battery wire to pin 30. Use a fuse as large as the relay is rated for. If using a ford relay, use a 30 amp. I think they are 50 amp relays, but you don't want to fuse that high. The last pin is 87. it will go to the starter solenoid. You may have a five wire relay, in that case the fifth would be pin 87a. Just leave that one alone. It's for normally closed relay operation, which you are using normally open, or pin 87.
The ford relay is similar, but you will have two large posts and one or two small posts, then the relay mount, for the ground side. The battery and the new crank wire hook to the larger posts and the old crank wire hook to one of the smaller posts. Right off, I think you can hook it to either one, but that may not be right. Hook it to one and if it doesn't work hook it to the other. Some one else will have to chime in and clear that up.
 
littlyota said:
I probably have 100 of these in my tool box. Complete with socket and everything.

Do need it wired for constant "on" or "off"?
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I don't know? You lost me there, and a quick Google didn't help.

The Hot Shot is supposed to be the final fix for intermittent no-starts on these 22RE engines. If making one myself is an option, that'd be awesome, but you'll have to forgive my ignorance while I stumble through this.
 
I know exactly what your trying to do. I did it on my Toyota as well. Eliminate the power going through the key.

Wish I could find my write up on pirate. I did an extremely detailed article several years ago.

Skip this small relay idea. Use a ford starter solenoid. I cut the wires off the factory starter relay. This way I never damaged the factory harness. This small relay would work, but would feel better with something a little more heavy duty.

Super easy to figure out.

Run a wire from pos battery to big side of solenoid.

Connect wire going to starter to other big side.

Connect wire that gets hot when the key is turned to start on the "s" side.

Depending on where you mount it, you may need a ground as well. The unit should ground through the mounting bolt. I added one for backup.

Keith
 
I certainly like the idea of building it myself. Not sure how soon I'll make it to the pick and pull, but I'll report back. Thanks, all!
 
Kevin B. said:
I certainly like the idea of building it myself. Not sure how soon I'll make it to the pick and pull, but I'll report back. Thanks, all!
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Just order online or go to your local parts store. I believe the one I used was from a 78 Bronco. If you go to NAPA or some where that has decent help they should be able to grab a couple off the shelf for you to choose from. Autozone probably cannot help you unless you get the one guy that knows what you are talking about.

This is super easy to do. Let me know when your ready and I can walk you through it.

I will get a picture of mine to show you.
 
I found the post I used on Pirate to do mine.

http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=287065

I still cannot find my write up. Must have been a different website.

What you could try for pretty much free is to run a power wire straight from the battery to the input side of the relay.

Only cut wires on the relay side of the connector. That way you don't damage anything on the factory wiring diagram.
 
littlyota said:
What you could try for pretty much free is to run a power wire straight from the battery to the input side of the relay.

Only cut wires on the relay side of the connector. That way you don't damage anything on the factory wiring diagram.
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This is an early '86 engine, I don't have an OEM relay. Not that I can find, anyway.

Ok, I've got a 30 amp relay from NAPA ('78 Bronco worked great for looking it up, thanks Raleigh), a couple battery cable terminators, a blade fuse holder, and several spade connectors. After more web crawling and a chat with the fellow at the parts counter, I think I almost know what I'm doing. Clean a spot on the fender to mount the relay to. Battery cable between the battery and the relay, and between the relay and the starter. Clip the crank wire, stick male spade connector on the short piece with the factory plug. Put a female spade on the remaining crank wire in the harness. Connect a short piece of wire to the "S" terminal on the relay, with another male spade connector on the end, this way I can pull the crank wire off the relay and send it back to the solenoid if I have to without needing to break out tools. I have dielectric paste and shrink tubing to keep the wire splices as watertight as possible, and I'm going to hit the bare spot on the fender with primer after the relay is bolted on.

Where do I want to fuse the crank wire, as close to the starter as possible? Anything else I'm missing or haven't thought of?
 
No, the fuse needs to be as close to the battery as you can. If you put it on the starter side it leaves a lot of wire that can short out do to rubbing or whatnot. Think big fire.
 
UNSTUCK said:
No, the fuse needs to be as close to the battery as you can. If you put it on the starter side it leaves a lot of wire that can short out do to rubbing or whatnot. Think big fire.
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Wait, I'm confused again. I thought I was fusing the crank wire, are you telling me to fuse the battery cable?
 
Your original crank wire is already fused through the fuse box. The wire that goes from the batter to the solenoid needs to be fused, as it is always hot. The wire from the solenoid to the starter is only hot during cranking and because it will be tied to the battery wire once the solenoid closes, it will be protected by the fuse. In this way, ever wire will be protected when it needs to be. If you want, you bring your junk over to my place in West Valley and I can show you what you need to do. I'll be around for the long weekend.
 
UNSTUCK said:
Your original crank wire is already fused through the fuse box. The wire that goes from the batter to the solenoid needs to be fused, as it is always hot. The wire from the solenoid to the starter is only hot during cranking and because it will be tied to the battery wire once the solenoid closes, it will be protected by the fuse. In this way, ever wire will be protected when it needs to be. If you want, you bring your junk over to my place in West Valley and I can show you what you need to do. I'll be around for the long weekend.
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That makes sense, thanks! I guess I was confused because I've never seen an oem battery cable with a fuse, but I guess an oem battery cable hasn't been hacked in two with an aftermarket relay spliced in.

I'll grab a fuse holder in the morning and see if I can wrap this thing up. I do appreciate the guidance.
 
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If it makes you feel any better, mine is not fused.

Not here to argue right or wrong, just saying.

I have no idea what the starter draws, but figured it would be way to high to put a fuse in. Guess I need to grab the amp
meter and see what is actually flowing.
 
Guys, we're not talking about the large ( 2 or 4 gauge maybe?) battery cable that runs from the batter to the starter motor. We are talking about a 10ish gauge wire that you will add to the battery that goes to the new relay and then another 10 gauge from the relay to the starter solenoid that is mounted on the starter motor. If you are trying to run cable, it is way, way overkill. You only need wire to handle 30 amps. Not 500.
 
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