No crank - Starter?

[N3FOL]

I bought this starter last July of 2001 from a Ford dealer after my original starter quit on me. Now, I am stuck at work with no crank at all. (I want to go home) My original starter gave me warning signs that is was going out, because it would crank the engine if it was cold. Once the engine was hot, the starter will not crank...after letting the engine cool down a little bit...the starter will then crank again and start the car. This time, this remanufactured starter from Ford will not crank and again...gave no warning signs.

Does anyone know if Ford starters have a warranty on them? If not, I had looked at a Delco Remy online from Advance Auto with a lifetime warranty. My dilemna is this....two days ago and this morning I needed a jump start for my battery was weak. Tonight, I have a no crank situation. I hope it is just a case of low voltage, but the interior lights are quit bright. What do you think is going on here? Starter problem or battery?

Sorry for the long post.

 

[CosmoSHO]

It stinks to be stranded!! madflame
From what you described you could have a couple of problems.

First, since you needed a jump several times recently, you may have a bad alternator. If that's the case, your battery isn't getting recharged.

Maybe you can get jumped again and limp into an auto parts store. If you have a multi-meter, with the car running, the voltage at the battery terminals should be about 14.3 volts if the alternator is working. If not, it needs to be replaced.

If the alternator is okay, your static battery voltage may not be sufficient to crank the starter. In that case, replace the battery.

Finally, if both of the above check good, try to reseat the spade connector on the starter solenoid. That has been a bad player in the past on these starters. If that doesn't work, your starter is probably the bad player.

Good luck! I hope you can figure it out and get on the road! thumb

VR

Cosmo

 

[TYSHO]

Year of SHO?
ATX or MTX?
Clicking or no clicking when trying to start?
Have you tried cleaning the battery terminals?
Does the car have an alarm system?

It can be many things but with out info, we can't narrow it down!

<small>[ February 06, 2004, 03:43 AM: Message edited by: TYSHO ]</small>

 

[N3FOL]

Thanks for all your reply. The bad news is that my car is still in the parking lot at my workplace. I tried to jump start it with another car last night, but it did not click at all. The battery seems to be fine now with a good voltage reading on the meter. My terminals are clean and well maintained. So at this point I am leaning towards the starter. As I had mentioned before, it is about two and a half years old that was refurbished by Ford. I had owned my 1995 ATX from the beginning and my original starter lasted longer than this refurbished one.

It is raining like **** here in MD/PA area, so looks like I cannot work on the car today. I plan to pickup a new starter from Advance Auto this morning using my wife's vehicle and try to replace the starter on Saturday.

 

[shobikes]

here's an old domestic trick. sometimes, the solenoid will stick due to cold temps or some grit build-up on the solenoid piston. if you'd rather not do the work on the ground in some random parking lot, try to snake up under there with a ball-peen and lightly tap the solenoid body (maybe not so lightly, and several times) to dislodge it. if it's not completely shot (and they usually don't all of a sudden go bad), sometimes this will free it up enough for a start. i had a '78 Monte that had to have this regularly...

as others have said, pull off the wires that have spade-style connectors and hit them with some contact cleaner (brake cleaner) to make sure you have good 'lectricity. Good Luck!!

 

[TYSHO]

It can be your ignition switch or nuetral switch if not the spade connecter. You need to find out if there's any power coming from the ignition wire to the solenoid before you assume it's the starter. If you wanna take the starter off, have it tested before you go buy another one. You don't want to replace it and still have the same problem.

 

[N3FOL]

Well, you guys were right. After giving the starter solenoid a little bit of a knock, the car started back up. I was able to bring the car back home Friday night. Late this morning, I was able to take off the starter and long behold...oil all over it. I guess everytime I change my oil, the started gets an oil bath. I try to place a cardboard box above the starter everytime I change oil, but that still won't prevent a little bit of oil getting to the starter. The next time I change my oil, I will take one of the forum members advice...place a plastic bag on top of the starter. I think that will work better.

Anyhow, I cleaned all the terminals of the solenoid and cleaned the exterior of the starter. Hopefully, it won't give me a problem anymore in the future. Thanks for all you input to my problem.

 

[N3FOL]

UPDATE:

Well after Saturday, I was just about to run an errand on Sunday afternoon...car would not start. I tried to give the starter a knock with negative result. So yesterday, I went ahead and bought a new starter from Advance Auto with a lifetime warranty. My last remanufactured starter which I bought in 2001 was from a Ford dealer with only 12 months warranty to it. Lifetime sounds like a better deal to everyone and the price was less than the dealer ($135). So far, my car starts right up with a single crank. Thank you SHO Forum.