Hi Peter,

I was fortunate to obtain some information relating to the importation of Australian G's in 1982/83 and there are lots of telexes between the engineers here and in Germany about a problem with the starter motor when the engine is hot. MB Germany said the problem was with the starter and so to refer it Robert Bosch. I have record of Bosch sending a starter with Bosch part number 0 001 362 601 to the parent company in Germany for urgent evaluation - this was 20/12/1982. On 14/1/1983 the issue was still unresolved with an extensive list of (23) problems including the starter being sent to Stuttgart (one other interesting problem was "driveline vibration" which was sub-headed "design problem - DCAG"). A further Letter to Stuttgart in February lists the issue of "Starter inoperative when hot" amongst a list of now 26 faults/problems. A telex was received by MB Aust. dated 8/3/1983 saying that the Research Department will test agian with Heat Shields and if a good solution is found they will send patterns. On 12/4/1983 MB Aust asked for drawings etc. for Heat Shields as starting problems were still being experienced.

I don't have any further documentation about this but it is interesting to note that my vehicle was sold in 1985 and does not have a heat shield and does not have any problems with starting when hot!  This leads me to believe that the solution came from Robert Bosch and not  DCAG. It would be  interesting to look up the robert Bosch catalogue for the part number above and see if there is a modified or different part number now applicable.

 SOrry I don't have a solution but hopefully it confirms that a problem did exist and was known about by DCAG. You may even find that there was a service bulletin or recall related to these parts.

Good Luck

John 

That stuff Steve posted is good and should do the trick.

There's another alternative, and that's to wrap the pipe with something like this:

http://www.pegasusautoracing.com/productselection.asp?Product=1827&iorb=4764

Keeping the heat in the pipe will protect ALL the engine compartment stuff, not just the starter.  But the side effect is that you move hotter exhaust gasses farther down the pipe, so the part under the floor may run hotter.  That may not be an issue though, depending on your exhaust routing and actual temps involved.

-Dave G.

I did.  And so far so good for my needs. 

But I wouldn't suggest it to someone who was just trying to see if heat reduction would help some intermittent starter problems.  The header wrap does about the same thing in the short term, is a lot cheaper and easier to install, and as such is a good evaluation tool.  IF the starter problems go away, AND other problems didn't crop up, AND durability of the wrap was unsatisfactory, AND sufficient funds and time for the disassembly and coating required were available, THEN I might suggest ceramic coating. 

There are of course always the "design inputs" questions - ie what's important to hotrodders may not be important to me and vice versa.  For instance, I know they place a lot more importance on how the engine compartment looks than I do.  They also may not care how the stuff holds up to water if they never drive in the rain where I might play "U-boat commander" 3 or 4 times a year.  Stuff like that means that when the requirements of the application are significantly different, I can't short-cut the evaluation process by just doing what somebody else likes.

One big attraction of the ceramics is the relative permanance and fact that once it's done, you don't even know it's there.  Nothing to wear out, degrade, or be removed/replaced at service times.  But it is a relatively labor intensive (parts must be removed for coating), time consuming, expensive, and permanent solution, so I'd be darned sure it was the right thing before going down that road.

-Dave G.