Have them checked that could be a possiblity.

 

Borrowed a friends commerical napa booster/charger and the drivers battery started off in the yellow (slighly low) and went to the charged within a few minutes - left it charging for 45 min .. Pass side started at the same area and 45 min later it was still fluctuating in the low yellow areas.

I did try to start the truck right afterwards and the starter turned over almost twice as quick as normal and the truck started up fine.. (usually when its cold, I can expect a grind 1/2 the time lately)

I pulled the one of the two caps off the pass side, and the water is about 1/3 below the metal bars and slightly above the fins, the metal bars have a lot of black corrosion on the one side I looked at. I will pick up some distilled water tomorrow and top them off over the fins and see how that goes with a good charge, if not, I will get new batteries monday for her.

Thanks

 

I was able to top off my batteries and they tested ok by napa under load and passed.. I had this done soon as I bought my other batteries.. Thought I may as well put new ones in since I was getting 30% off them and would eventually need them..

Got two napa legend 880s/1040s.

Put them in this morning.. first thing - GRIND!

Took the flexplate cover off and looked at the flywheel, all the teeth were good with no damage..

Got the wifey to hop in the truck with me lying under it with the spotlight, the starter engaged two times then grinding the next few.. the starter bendix was coming out and then grinding.. it was not grinding on the flywheel but coming out fully and the starter was grinding.

So.. picking up a fender soleniod later today to rule that out since the inside of the starter looked good and it has a new starter mounted soleniod..

What has been done..
starter removed and cleaned good, all brushes, etc looked great. Replaced starter soleniod, replaced both batteries.

Eyeing up the high torque starter from db electrical, but cringing at the $90 UPS shipping that will cost me about another $50 in brokerage fees on top of the starter and shipping.. The $120 (free shipping USA) starter will cost me about $260 or so. One is on my to do list, but hoping to wait until next fall when I will be back in the states for the winter.


Any other suggestions?

Thanks!

 

Ugh......I'm still having an identical problem. Took the starter in to get a new solenoid last week and all was well until a 5 degree morning....starter caught the flyweel and then came off and free spun. It only happens when it's cold, but I have new batts and a new alternator.

 

Shoot!

I thought yours was fixed

I was going to replace the fender solenoid, but crossed them and it still grinded, so changed that plan.

My only guess is that something is wrong inside the starter, maybe a bad gear that I missed the first time or something shorting out.

The bendix comes out fine, but just grinds after that.

 

So did I....until that one really cold morning....the new solenoid definitely helped....but it didn't solve my problem completely. Any idea where the fender solenoid is on a 2003?

 

Is it not about 4-6 inches behind the pass side on the fender wall? I heard somewhere that they stopped them maybe in 2002 if I remember right? I could really be wrong about that though..

But mine is about 4-6" from the battery on the pass side.

 

That's what I heard too...my positive cable goes directly from the battery to the starter solenoid....

 

Yep.. must be the year they stopped it.

I took my starter off again tonight to have another look.. LOTS more grinding dust inside, it has dust at the main drive gear that hits the bendix and the main drive bearing has dust around it..

Looks like I will be replacing it.

 

I paid a small fortune for a genuine Ford starter while I was 'on the road' - but it sounded and worked well. The old parts-house junk starter on there was staying stuck in the flywheel after you started the truck. It also sounded like it was full of sand when it was running.

rockauto.com has an OEM Ford (TYC brand, technically) all-new starter for $69 (I paid 379 for the part). I would try that, especially for the price.

 

The two-bolt starter takes about 1 minute to install....literally. It cranks fast too.

My truck started fine this morning, it was about 10 degrees and she had 4" of fresh snow on her. Turned the key about 8 seconds after the GP light went off.

 

My wife found that waiting 3 seconds after was the lucky number for her.. Me? no lucky number yet lol

 

Thanks, will check that out. We are going to be going fulltime in the spring so I want to make sure the truck is dependable so we dont get stuck in some small town paying 10x what parts are worth.

 

IIRC, the starter relay has been moved to the fuse panel under the dash and uses a small Bosch type relay. Check your fuse/relay legend for its location in the panel. I don't feel the relay would be causing the problem though.

 

It only happens when it's very cold (close to 0*) so a relay wouldn't make sense...my only thought is that it would be cold cranking amps but my batts are new, and so is the alternator...maybe the starter took a beating last winter with the crappy batteries I had? Does that make sense?