Starter Woes

[kcmash]

I am pretty sure that my starter is bad.

Earlier this year I bought an original style starter from Auto Zone. It seemed to do fine for a while.

Recently, I had to do some compression testing and valve adjustment on my car. I used the starter for all the cranking functions. Later in this activity I noticed the starter cranking slower as I tried to run compression, even with all the plugs out.

Now that I am hitting some cruises, I noticed she would crank slow, but get the job done when the car is cold. It would crank slower, but still get there on a warm engine. Then we had today…..

I took her out for a nice cool morning run, backroads and interstate. The temperature was on the lower 1/4 of the temp gage. Upon arriving home I decided to shut it down and see if it would restart. It barely cranked and could not get the job done.

Do I need to go back to the PMGR starter? I remember this problem on the old Ford starters. I want to get away from it.

Kcmash

 

[Steve McMahan]

To quote my dad, “Always check the battery cranking voltage before changing the starter.” Since you didn’t mention it, have you verified the battery is not an issue! Inquiry minds want to know

 

[kcmash]

Awesome response.

I have not checked it today. When I was doing the compression testing, I checked ked that first.

The reason I have a new starter in the first place is due to starting issues earlier in the year. Battery tested good, bought a new solenoid, bought a new starter, went back to the battery and it was the whole problem.

Kcmash

 

[73inNH]

I have similar problems on a hot day. I have headers that run near the starter. I have a heat shield around the starter and it is definitely better, but on really hot days, parking over hot pavement, on a short shut down, it definitely labors to start.

When I get sick of it, I will get a high torque mini starter. They cost a little bit, but unless you have a battery issue, it will fix your problem. And you can drop a few pounds off the front end.

 

[Tnfastbk]

Timing can also cause the same issue when the car is warm

 

[Roland]

Better try with a Power Master OEM High Torque! Perfect

 

[Hemikiller]

Most starting issues have nothing to do with the starter, solenoid or battery. They result from damaged/worn out/corroded/cheapo parts store cables and simply dirty or loose connections, which will in turn take out the solenoid and/or starter. Before you fire the parts cannon, do some diagnostic work first. I recommend, as Steve noted, you need to do a voltage drop test before changing anything.

 

[will e]

I agree with Mr. Hemikiller, check the cables.

 

[mrgmhale]

Most starting issues have nothing to do with the starter, solenoid or battery. They result from damaged/worn out/corroded/cheapo parts store cables and simply dirty or loose connections, which will in turn take out the solenoid and/or starter. Before you fire the parts cannon, do some diagnostic work first. I recommend, as Steve noted, you need to do a voltage drop test before changing anything.



View attachment 66815

That is a nice visual of where to perform voltage drop tests. That is overlooked too often. Very simple to do. Thank you for sharing.

 

[tony-muscle]

Test voltage following Hemikiller's diagram. If you decide to get a new hi torque starter get the DB Electrical.
They changed their webpage so my link doesn't work, but I think it is this one: https://www.dbelectrical.com/products/new-ford-bronco-4-9l-5-0l-5-8l-starter-92-93-94-95-96.html

 

[kcmash]

I will try what I can. The cables are all new reproduction, corrosion free cables.

I do have my PMGR starter in the garage that I pulled this summer thinking it was the problem. As I stated earlier. I really think it’s a bad starter considering I saw a sudden decline during compression testing. It did fine when cool, but struggles when warm. The battery is 2 months old.

Kcmash

 

[kcmash]

Ok tonight was pretty busy. So I push the car outside to give her a try.

Reminder. After the Sunday drive I came home and immediately tried to restart and it cranked at about one starter revolution per second. Really slow and would not start the car.

Tonight I jump in, give the pedal one pump for gas, and she started like a brand new car. Maybe 1 to 2 seconds of crank and she roars to life.

I think the starter. Convince me otherwise.
Kcmash

 

[boxgranch]

Speaking of battery cables, would these be about the best one could find in a pre-made set:

https://secure.cougarpartscatalog.com/d2zz-14300-hd.html?sessionthemeid=26
The folks who went through the car before selling it to us used blue cables for everything which has led a couple of people to reversing connections, my son and a guy at the parts place checking the battery. I want to replace the whole set because the deeper we got in the car, the more I mistrust the people we got it from. Sigh.

We did turn out to have a bad starter which was a fresh rebuilt one. I suspect poor quality with heat soaking and got a heat shield for it in hopes of prolonging its life. I still think the cables are a problem if only because of color.