Greetings and thanks ahead! 2003 F150 with 5.4 - 2 valve. I had rebuilt this 5.4 a few years back and over a year ago I swapped it into a 2003 Lariat. All was well for a year or so but I did end up with a grind and a few flat spots on my flex plate. I replaced the flex plate with an extra I had from the swap and put the old starter back in which worked just fine for several months. Due to the age and condition of the old starter combined with the PITA of a flex plate replacement in a 4WD, I decided I would install a new Ford rebuilt starter from Rock Auto. In addition, I installed a new battery. Now that the new starter is installed, I am having some occasional grinding on start up. This seems to only happen when the vehicle is very cold, "Single digits", and not after the truck is warmed up. It sounds like the starter gear hits the flex plate and begins to spin before it engages the flywheel. I do not see alignment issues and the starter has been torqued to spec. As a "cheap" possible solution, I replaced the starter relay on the firewall as well. This had no affect on my starter grinding issue. I now have two considerations. Re-manufactured parts are not the quality they once were so I am now thinking on a warranty replacement of the new starter but I wanted community feedback. Second is the spacer-plate that is installed between the engine and the transmission. When I had a transmission rebuilt many years ago, I forgot to install this spacer-plate and the flex plate cracked around the bolts on the crank causing a total separation of the flex plate from the crank. Is this spacer-plate some sort of starter shim? Why would the flex plate crack and separate around the crank from not using the spacer-plate?
Thanks for the help, Dave

 

Definitely could be a bad starter. Rockauto is great for price and selection, but not easy for warranty returns. Due to the effort required to experiment with flex plate and backing plate, I would get another starter first. Maybe even a reman from the local crappy auto parts store.

 

Thank you Don, I have a 2006 F350 6.0 that I can drive while I wait for another starter from Rock. I will order another starter today.

 

I see the starter drives fail in the cheap starters (the part with the gear teeth)
I put a cheap starter in my 97 F150 5.4, it lasted a week and the drive failed.
It started making a horrible noise, I knew the ring gear / flex plate was next
I found a Ford drive for it (SD 341) Ebay online and put that new starter drive in my starter, it now works/

 

Perhaps I will get lucky with warranty of the new starter. I will inspect the flex plate while I'm in there just to see if there's any damage.

 

been in your shoes twice, get another starter. I bought 3 and one was set correctly when in run position, the other two were recessed deeper and had too far to go to engage in time. We set them on the counter at Napa and compared the inconsistency

 

This helps! I bought the Ford Re-man starter to avoid the crappy parts that seem to have shat on the entire market. I had my local O'reilly ship in a Ford re-man so hopefully a different batch will be the cure.
Thanks for the input.

 

This video shows what we are dealing with. The final 5 minutes is all you need to watch.

 

Easy job
I can replace them in the dark
3/8 extensions and a good 13mm 6 point deep socket, I use a long ratchet
I use a 6 inch + a 1 inch for the top bolt depending on how deep my socket is
The only bolt that needs a deep socket is the bottom stud with the ground wire

 

AGREED! This is so frustrating! I even have issues with the stealership! I rebuilt my 6.0 Power stroke last year or so. The oil up-pipe had machining damage inside where the o-ring seats. Damage that could be visibly seen if any quality control had been implemented! The 3000 psi oil slowly started leaking in this area and eventually eroded the o-ring until the injectors wouldn't fire. Huge pain in the *** to find the leak in a rebuild engine with "Top quality OEM parts!". An air/smoke test was inconclusive so of course I started on the drivers side and found nothing! Then to passenger side inspection for oil leaks!

 

Big reason I try to find local rebuild shops and use my core for electronics.

The alt on my Fleetwood failed, the front bearing never had its retainer installed from the reman facility. Go figure. I usually have pretty good luck with my Autozone starters and alts, I always do purchase the 'new' unit. I did have an issue with a starter in one of my BMW's, it would drag upon release (the bendix I guess) and would make the flexplate ring. Exchanged, still did it. Gave up and found a Bosch finally for that thing as they were NLA for a while.

Replaced the wheel cyls on my 4.9 truck, LR did not make it around the block before it blew out and soaked my new shoes. Lovely. Bought a flexhone and polished the replacement set, just need to install at some point.

 

I replaced the starter with another factory Ford re-manufactured. So far so good. I will update if I have any further issues.