Ford F250 Starter problem

When I was a kid I had a Chevvy that did sort of the same thing. It turned out to be the ignition coil.

If it has the same style starter as a GM the problem is likely the same. The starter solenoid is getting heat soaked and causing problems. The trick on the GM units is to install a jumper strap across the large terminals on the starter and install a Ford style starter solenoid on the fender.

It sounds like worn bushings in the starter. Replace it with a decent one after testing to prove it. Autozone has battery testers you can use for free, but a regular VOM will do the trick for you. Good starters won't pull the battery down to 4 or 6 volts during cranking but bad ones will. Make sure your battery terminals and all battery cable connections are good and clean, then do a voltage test.

Chebbys make that sound when they need more shims between the starter and the block/bell-housing.

The really quick, simple test is to hit the starter with the headlights on, pointing at something light colored like the garage door or a cardboard box so you can see how much they dim. Try it on a vehicle that works to get an idea of how much dimming is normal.

They don't dim at all if the starter solenoid or relay is open, and go dark for a battery with little remaining capacity or bad terminal connections. jsw

Den 13-02-2013 03:13, snipped-for-privacy@snyder.on.ca skrev:

Please don't tell this to the shitload of starters that go through my workplace every day or I will get into big trouble.

It IS used on many gearreduction starters.

Ducks comes in a lot of sizes and colours ;-)

Den 13-02-2013 03:15, snipped-for-privacy@snyder.on.ca skrev:

So we now have both "Genuine Bendix" and "Not Genuine Bendix" that react in excact the same way but are different?

Sounds fishy to me and a lot of others.......

Maybe that is what Toyota says but that does not mean that it is the only truth.

Yep, 'ol Gummer comes to RCM for help, and I suspect that he never seeks any help from the kook/fanatic groups he frequently cross-posts to.

He maintains a f*ck you, deal-with-it attitude towards RCM in defense of all his bullshit fanatic postings, which when RCM is included in the list of groups ends up drawing more kook fuckups to include RCM in their list of groups for their own twisted rantings.

Gummer likes to call "off-topic" when anyone replies with criticisim these behaviors, as if anyone would agree with that.

But RCM is likely the only place he can go for help.. sadly, some RCM'ers do offer help, otherwise Gummer would probably go away. No, on second thought, he'd still try to peddle rusty/broken junk machines here.

It's just too bad that RCM'ers don't reply with: f*ck you, deal-with-it, when he needs help.

-- WB .........

First, carry some water. When it fails, squirt the starter to cool it off. {Or better, test at home & have hose...}

But even before.... does it draw current? Do lights go dim, etc?

I'd suspect: starter, connections to it, connections at battery INCLUDING the grounds.

Have you replaced the starter?

Also check for bad ground. When it doesn't start throw a booster cable from neg batt terminal to the engine block clean ground.

Impossible. The ignition coil will not prevent the starter from cranking. It will make it not START, but not what the OP described.

The problem on the GM starters was the aluminum field coils. Not aware of Ford using them - but it is possible.

There are several different starter drives that have been used over the years. A true bendix has a problem in that it disengages if the engine half-starts. This problem was solved back in the early sixties by the introduction of the (Bendix) "follo-thru" drive. This was a modification of the "bendix". All true "bendix" and "follo-thru" drives have a large drive spring and the drive is fastened to the armature shaft by a pin. The original Bendix has a counter-weighted drive gesr to p[rovide the inertia required to spin the gear out the helix. The "bendix" drive was very common on Lucas and Bosch starters in the fifties and sixties, and some early autolite/prestolite starters.

The "follo-thru" gets an over-running clutch with a centrifugal lockout pin (or more) that hold the drive in gear untill the starter stops turning or the engine reaches a minimum of 400 RPM. The follo-thru starter drive was common on Prestolite light duty starters, while their heavy duty starters were more like a Delco, with a solenoid engaged (pre-engage) drive with over-running clutch. Pre-engage starters usually have a helix of some sort on the starter armature shaft.

The bendix and follow-thru helix is on the gear side of the bendix spring, and is part of the drive.

NONE of the currently produced Japaneseor european starters, to the best of my knowledge, use a starter drive with a "bendix spring" - which is a unique and essential part of a "bendix" drive.

I could explain in detail how the Bendix drive works, but at this point it is enough to say there are NO Bendix drives used on ANY pre-engage starters - or on ANY current production automotive engine produced in the Americas, Europe, Australia or Japan/Korea/Thailand.

Perhaps in China, India or North Korea or some other technological backwater - but these are not vehicles available for general sale in the primary markets mentioned - europe, Japan, or the Americas.

Please list some of the things you tried, or replaced.

Christopher A. Young Learn more about Jesus

May I highjack this, since Gunner seems to have hit on a fix?

I have an '87 F-250 that won't start when it's hot. Let it sit days, weeks, even months, indoors or out, and it fires right up. Even when it's near 0F. Run it for a few minutes and it'll start again.

But run it until it get thoroughly warmed up, shut it off, and it behaves as if it had a nearly dead battery: a-WUMP a-WUMP a-wump aaaa clickety-click. Let it sit for 10 to 20 minutes (depending on the outdoor temp) and it fires right up again. PITA at gas stations.

Engine is a replacement, the smaller-than-original V-8 (I forget the name/displacement) so the truck is a bit underpowered but starts and runs fine except for this not-when-hot thing. I'm a former mechanic, I've taken it to a guy who's good, we feel like we've tried and/or replaced everything.

Know any magic tweaks or arcane bits of Ford lore that might help me?

Keep talking Uffe, your ignorance is showing.

There is no such thing as a "bendix" drive on a pre-engage starter. A "bendix" drive is, by definition, a "self engaging" starter drive.

There are 2 basic kinds of "bendix" drive - the early "bendix" whick had a bad habit of kicking out when an engine fired but did not start, and a "bendix follo-thru" which stayed engaged untill the engine started and ran.

I am a retired automotive mechanic, automotive service manager, high school auto instructor, and automotive trade instructor and I know what I'm talking about, and still have the texts that were used in both educational levels, as well as numerous factory shop and training manuals at my disposal, as well as what is available on the net.

I had a '73 Corona. It was the worst piece of shit I ever drove. That includes the Opel Caddette that had the hood latch pull out of the body, at 55 MPH on I-75 in Cincinatti.

I had that problem on a '66 GTO. I replaced the factory battery cables with #1 AWG welding cable and never had any more trouble. The mechanics couldn't agree what the problem was. Bad battery. (new) Bad starter. (Rebuilt it myself) Bad Solenoid. (New)

I measured the drop across the battery cables and found a total drop of nine volts. The new cables reduced that to about 1.5 volts.

The Corona and the Mark 2 were totally different vehicles - but early '70s Toyotas, and any other Japanese cars, were quite substandard to American vehicles - but no worse than british or German vehicles of the time. In only a few short years, that changed SIGNIFICANTLY.

Is it a temp sensor that the computer is sensing and won't let you burn up the engine ?

A sensor might be covered in oil / grime and gets hot and can't cool easily.

I'd look at computer concepts and not mechanical ones. Today's Truck/car has more and more computer controls and mommy may I stuff.

Mart> Mike Spencer wrote:

The disk brakes on that car were definately substandard. Hit them hard in reverse, and the pads popped out even with good rotors & new pads. Toyota told me that only 1000 '73 Coronas were imported, and reqquired major redesigns rthe following year. No parts were availible, without a six to nine month wait to get them from Japan. They wanted $750 (US) for the speedometer cable. They wanted $600 for a seat cover for the lower half of the rear seat. I got pulled over one morning (5 AM) by an Ohio State Highway Patrolman for speeding. I told him I was unable to find parts for the speedometer, and the dealer didn't want to order the part. He called me a #$%^&*( Liar. Then he aimed his flashlight at it and asked, Is that a '73 Corona? I said yes. He turned red and said, I owned one of these pieces of $#%^&*( crap. Get out of here, and be more careful.