This sounds a little goofy but is it possible for the solenoid to cause the starter motor to spin, though not enough to engage the flywheel without me pushing the starter button? A few times I have heard something (other than the engine) spinning while the engine is running. The only thing that could be running would be the starter motor, so if that is what is making the noise, something is causing the motor to spin. It doesn't sound like it is trying to mesh with the flywheel but just spinning for a few seconds then it stops. If the solenoid is not making it spin then can the starter motor "freewheel" if it has not retracted from the flywheel all the way? Whatever is making this noise doesn't do it long enough for me to get out of the truck to figure it out while it is happening. Any thoughts?

 

I'd need a little more to go on...what engine are you running.

That asked, it could be a bad bendix on the starter. That is supposed to kick the starter gear out of the flywheel when the starter stops turning and the engine flywheel overruns the starter. If the bendix fails, the starter gear could be engaged with the flywheel all of the time. It is supposed to be engaged only when you are actually cranking. If you crank the engine and the engine doesn't start, the starter gear sometimes remains engaged with the flywheel.

 

Solenoid? Ford?

Anyway, in several words, "probably."
Contacts (or other electrically conductive pieces) can break off in a solenoid or relay and cause strange troubles. I know of a Chevy that would regularly die and fail to fire upon attempts to restart it (of course). Upon fully cooling, it would start OK. Cap/rotor, coil and more was changed to no avail. Then it finally died in the parking lot of the man's workplace. He's an electrical engineer and he set about troubleshooting with some minor test equipment. He found that the solenoid's "ignition" wire, the one that bypasses the ballast resistor during starting, was almost shorting the coil's hot side to ground. So the wire was removed, the coil voltage went from 2Vdc to 12.8Vdc and he could drive it. Upon dissection, he found that a contact had broken free inside the solenoid and was causing intermittent problems as it jostled around inside. True fact.

 

It does sound like a Bendix problem. I believe it's on the 223 ford running gear.. I send a PM Bob

 

Do you have a GM steering column? How many keys are on your key ring?

 

After talking with F1Dude on the phone, I decided to change the solenoid out for a new one and take off the starter and have it checked out. It is in to a local starter shop waiting on a new bendix drive. It should be ready for pickup tomorrow. I will reinstall it and see if I hear and more racket up there. I dissected the old solenoid and found the round disc contact pretty pitted. It was ready to retire anyway!!!!!

 

The other thing to look at is the ring gear. If the starter has been engaging while you are driving many times there will be half moon sections of the ring gear cut out. The same thing will happen if you try to start the engine with the motor already running.

Also if you have a throwout bearing lacking lubrication it can make a noise when not engaged. This is easy enough to diagnose as when you depress the clutch when the noise occurs it will go away or change radically.

 

Thanks!!! I will keep that info in mind when I get it back together and will let you know.