i have an 85 e350 6.9 van with starter problems. possibly it started 5 or so months ago when someone borrowed the van and burned the starter out (the key doesn't always bounce back and so sometimes it stays in the starter position..i think they didn't notice and drove for a while with the starter still on). i put a new starter in and at some point it started acting up. when i turned the key the starter would spin but didn't sound like it ever engaged. even when i turned the key off i could still hear it spinning until it slowed down and stopped. it would do this every once and a while and finally i just replaced the starter. now the new one has started to do this as well. is this not my starter causing the problem but something else?

 

That's the engagement solenoid on the starter.

 

well what is the larger problem if i have solenoids that keep going bad?

 

if the starter was run engaged, it might have damaged the ring gear on the flywheel. in any event, the reason the starter solenoids keep going bad is probably because the person that rebuilt it only repaired what was bad, not replaced everything.
this is a common practice with many rebuilders, that is how they make money. .

 

no it wasn't rebuilt i got a new one. the one that burnt out was replaced. that second one probably only lasted a few months (it was a bosch). it had a warranty on it and so the auto store replaced it with a new one (not bosch but off the top of my head i can't remember the brand of the one that is currently installed).

is the ring gear or flywheel something in the starter or something that the starter engages with that is external to it?

 

the ring gear is what the starter engages on the flywheel to spin the engine over. they get chewed up when thestarter stays engaged or does not fully engage. then you end up with the grinding instead of start noise when the key is turned.

 

i read about the ring gear a little bit on prior posts. sounds like PITA to replace or to even rotate it off the worn spots. I'm only a moderate hobby mechanic. How long should it take to do this job? I wonder if I should get a quote for having a mechanic do it..
p.s.
i think my original reply didn't go through..sorry if this ends up being a double post

 

I think you need to pull the starter and take a camera up in there and get a picture of the ring gear first.
Post it and we'll see.

It may well be the **** starters you get these days.

 

if i pull the starter i need to rotate the ring gear so i can check teeth all the way around it correct? how do i rotate the ring gear once i have the starter off?

 

With the large bolt in the middle of the harmonic balancer at the front of the engine.
Put a socket on that with a breaker bar and rotate slowly.

 

If you remove the inspection plate at the bottom of the flywheel/transmission front you can get a better view of the ring gear.
You don't even have to pull the starter to check the ring gear this way, but would still need to rotate it.

 

sorry i'm late in following up on this thread. where is the inspection plate? anyone know of a link on a step by step on removing it? i tried looking through old posts but maybe am searching the wrong terms?

 

Thin metal plate on the bottom of where the engine/transmission meet. It has a slot in the bottom of it.

 

It's also called a dust cover. It's at the front of the transmission behind the engine oil pan. If your transmission is an automatic this video shows clearly where it is located on an E4OD transmission and how to remove it at about 1 minute into the video. You can see the ring gear on the outer edge of the flex plate which is attached to the torque converter.

I don't know what this cover looks like on a manual transmission but it is at the front of the transmission and it covers the lower part of the flywheel which the ring gear is attached to.

You may be able to fix your ignition switch by removing the ignition lockset and spraying some light weight lubricant into it. There is a cast metal bar in the upper column about 6 inches long with gear teeth on the lower edge which engages with the ignition key lock. I forgot what that bar is called (I replaced mine when it was broken).

This bar has to slide forward and backward in the slot as the key is turned. It was greased at the factory. The grease used was a bit heavy and when it dries out the bar can become sticky in that slot. DO NOT use spray Lithium Grease because it quickly dries up and might make the problem worse. A spray lubricant like WD40 would loosen it up if you can get it in the right place. Only a very little bit and and this will be at the TOP back of the hole where you removed the ignition lock. Then turn the key back and forth - try that a few times

FIRST Look for a video for replacing that broken ignition bar piece so you can see exactly what you need to lubricate. You might be able to do this successfully as a described above or you might have to remove the steering wheel to get in there and spray the lubrication where it is needed.

 

OOPS, I thought you had a newer truck. If it is the C-6 Automatic then removing the dust cover is easier- it looks the same but no hard to get at bolts.

I would like to correct a statement in the video and for anyone else changing transmission fluid.

I read a Technical Service Bulletin from FORD dated from about 2008 which stated that Mercon V transmission fluid was then approved at that time for ALL previous Ford automatic transmissions, at least up to 2008. So that is definitely what you want to use in the C-6

I drained the torque converter, pan, lines from the radiator and auxiliary cooler on my 87 6.9L w/C6 and replaced the fluid with Full Synthetic Mercon V and added an external MAGNEFINE filter (the true one, not the look alike copies) to the auxiliary cooler return line which comes from the TOP of the auxiliary cooler to the passenger side metal return line to the transmission. The line from the driver side of the radiator goes to the output line from the transmission. I installed a new 11" x 11-5/8" cooler using home made brackets for a much better installation and location of the cooler which I'll show in a photo in a new thread a bit later today.