Ford starter no bendix

[wander2039]

Working on the 86 F150 5.0L.. wanting to at least get it turning over to check compression. Factory starter was fine when parked 24 years ago. Went today to a local PNP and pulled one that looked new but a reman. Both are doing the same thing, won’t pull down the arm to push out the bendix. I can manually push it down and both work fine. I’m using jumper cables on the Festiva battery which is fully charged.

Really didn’t want to spend $80 on a new starter. Are both of these truly bad or is there a fix?

 

[JayhawkRoy]

1986 probable gunked up starter. Sitting for 24 yrs.

Rockauto has new starters for $50-60 (plus ship), depending on the manual vs auto thing. Sometimes you may need to bite the bullet.

 

[wander2039]

1986 probable gunked up starter. Sitting for 24 yrs.

Rockauto has new starters for $50-60 (plus ship), depending on the manual vs auto thing. Sometimes you may need to bite the bullet.

I took apart the 86 starter and cleaned/oiled it. Also sanded the brushes. Kinda surprised didn't work after that. Might have to just buy new.. or scrap the truck. I'm border line right now with how much it's fighting me.

 

[ka9mnx]

In the engine compartment on the right side, near the battery, there is a starter solenoid. They are known to go bad. I went through three in three years until I learned how the carefully drill out the rivets and smear some nolox in the brass contacts.

 

[Chris142]

Bad cable or connection

 

[wander2039]

In the engine compartment on the right side, near the battery, there is a starter solenoid. They are known to go bad. I went through three in three years until I learned how the carefully drill out the rivets and smear some nolox in the brass contacts.

Should of mentioned this is off the truck. Solenoid seemed to be working.

 

[Lubener]

In the engine compartment on the right side, near the battery, there is a starter solenoid. They are known to go bad. I went through three in three years until I learned how the carefully drill out the rivets and smear some nolox in the brass contacts.

Too much work to save an inexpensive part. Cheap solenoids don't hold up. I never had one go bad. I am still on my originals on my two 87's.

 

[The_Jeff]

You can upgrade to a 1992+ starter with gear reduction and external solenoid. You'll have to slightly rewire the fender solenoid and put up with it sounding less awesome (more modern) but it'll work.

But I agree on the bad cable thing. Do you have a group 65 battery in this thing or are you just borrowing the festiva one?

 

[Kira]

Bring them both a rebuilder shop and see what they suggest.
Pick ONE up Monday....price will be competitive with whatever any online source would charge with shipping.

What are your intentions?
Have you use for this 24-years-outside-truck or are you planning to just fire it up and sell it?

 

[Dadillac]

Attach the battery cable, or jump pack, directly to the post on the starter. If it doesn't work the starter is bad. If it does work you have a faulty solenoid or a bad cable between the solenoid and starter

Don

 

[wander2039]

You can upgrade to a 1992+ starter with gear reduction and external solenoid. You'll have to slightly rewire the fender solenoid and put up with it sounding less awesome (more modern) but it'll work.

But I agree on the bad cable thing. Do you have a group 65 battery in this thing or are you just borrowing the festiva one?

Festiva has a group 35, hooking it straight to the battery via jumper cables.

Bring them both a rebuilder shop and see what they suggest.
Pick ONE up Monday....price will be competitive with whatever any online source would charge with shipping.

What are your intentions?
Have you use for this 24-years-outside-truck or are you planning to just fire it up and sell it?

The rebuilding shop closed several years ago, not seeing any KC yet. More of a long term toy. Slowly restore over time.

Attach the battery cable, or jump pack, directly to the post on the starter. If it doesn't work the starter is bad. If it does work you have a faulty solenoid or a bad cable between the solenoid and starter

Don

Yeah that's what I'm doing, straight to the starter.

 

[JayhawkRoy]

Festiva has a group 35, hooking it straight to the battery via jumper cables.

The rebuilding shop closed several years ago, not seeing any KC yet. More of a long term toy. Slowly restore over time.

Yeah that's what I'm doing, straight to the starter.

I think American Auto Electric Repair in Leavenworth is still in business.

Full disclosure: I used them once, had to go back two times to get the Chev starter rebuild done right so it worked correctly in the 1980 timeframe. On the other hand, they were relatively convenient since I lived in Leavenworth at the time. No longer know if original owner is still the real owner today.

 

[mk378]

Did you test with the cover on? It probably comes up too high with the cover off.

 

[The_Jeff]

Festiva has a group 35, hooking it straight to the battery via jumper cables.

So you have no battery in the truck at all? That's your problem. Jumper cables just boost, they don't have enough of a connection to do it by themselves.