Ok I am new to this so bare with me! I have a 1986 ford f-250 6.9 diesel. I have been haveing issues with is wanting to start! First bought new batteries 2nd new altenator 3rd new cables! Took it to parts store they asked me to shut it off to run diagnostic test. (I explained it would not start if I shut it off) So I shut it off and sure enough did not start! Hooked it to jumper box and jumper cables still nothing then some passer by asked if I had a hammer I laughed and said yes he stated to tap on the starter! At this point willing to try anything I did and it started! Ok what does this mean! No one else seems to want to explain this to me! Someone please just tell me what I need to replace now! My horses would like to go somewhere this summer! Thanks in advance for any help!

 

I would guess the starter then. Sometimes tapping on them with a hammer or end of a pole will get it to work momentarily.

 

the motor is getting locked up and by hitting it with the hammer it unjars it and frees the motor.

 

And it would act like it has a dead battery if it was the starter?

 

the starter motor?

 

You have a bad field coil in the starter. It is operating on borrowed time. A new starter is in your immediate future.

 

yes

yes

 

Yep, starter. Bendix gets sticky and won't engage. Tapping on starter unsticks it. Need new starter.

 

Ok gentlemen, The weather is supposed to break tomorrow guess I will be purchasing a new starter tomorrow! I will let you know if this fixes my issue! I do appreciate all of your all help! I will return!!

 

Try to go with a new one vs a reman. Avoid the ones Advance carries, we've had several go belly up for no reason (well, they are cheap). The other option if you have time is to have yours rebuilt by a local shop that does alternators and starters. There's a place near me called MJ Auto Electric that does excellent work.

 

Yeah, you got that right! I put THREE AutoZone "Duralast" starters on my 460 in less than 5 weeks. Thankfully they were lifetime warranty and my wife at the time worked at AutoZone too. Third starter I put in finally held together, but by that time I wished I had kept the stock Ford unit so I could have it rebuilt. I ain't ever gonna return a Ford core for ANYTHING rebuildable. I'll eat the core charge and keep my broken FORD unit, get it rebuilt, and have a SPARE that I know will work for another 200K miles when the other stuff fails.

Duralast lol... more like DuraBLAST.

 

The reason it would act like a bad or low battery is the starter is "dragging", typical of a Ford starter just before it gives up the ghost completely.