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So I was changing the oil yesterday and while I was under the beast I decided to just check things out. I saw a bolt that looked to be looseand investigated further around the starter. What is going on here? If I put light force on the starter, I can move it an 1/8th of an inch or so. Also, is there a missing bolt here?
I havent done any work to the starter, surely its not supposed to be loose but it seems like there is a "housing" loose, and not just the starter itself.
Yeah, looks like you need to replace and tighten a few. And you have a film of oil covering everything too, that I'd want to clean up and find the source. It might be worth inspecting your flywheel and starter gear for damages.
Do you have an automatic tranny? if so I believe there is an adapter plate that bolts to the motor. check all bolts for security
Edit: So it just didn't look right. I went out and looked at my truck. That is the tranny bell housing bolt and you are missing one. The picture makes it look smaller than it is
AllaboutMPG - I do have an auto trans. Do you know how many bolts are supposed to hold that adapter plate? I may have lost one, and the other (picture 1 from my first post) is loose.
But the starter itself isnt loose.
This isnt loose
This is the part that is loose.
Do the starter bolts go through the piece in the picture above and then into this part?
That looks like the transmission mounting bolts w one deff missing. Last year with ice on the ground my starter wanted to come loose and blow the nice expensive fuse it runs off. So I put it back on w my torque wrench to spec to have it come out again and blow another fuse. yes there was deffinetly some oil from a leak but it came loose again the next day. Not wanting to figure out how to work on the truck without melting the snow again I went just a little past spec with some blue locktite rolling good since.
Alright, so after some more research I think I can speak more intelligently. I have a 2 bolt starter and it is not the problem here. It is tight to the adapter. Looks like I have 1 loose and 1 missing bell housing bolts.
1. Where is the best place to get these? Ford Dealer? Might these be procured at the International dealer?
Here is some information I found on another FTE thread.
"Are you needing the bellhousing-to-engine bolts or the two starter mounting bolts? There are 6 total bellhousing mounting bolts - 2 shorter and 4 longer ones. IIRC, they are M12 x 1.75. Unsure of the lengths though. "
2. I am guessing that the top (loose) bolt is the long bolt and the one I am missing is a shorter one?
3. Do we think that just lreplacing and tightening these bolts will solve the problem?
Unfortunately I am not a mechanic, more of a parts changer. It would be quite out of my comfort zone to have to do anything with the trans. It is worth taking in to my local 4WD shop to have them take a look and assess?
It looks to me like there are six and the top two are the short ones. I would try ACE hardware for them myself and I doubt that they are hardened but someone else might know better.
