Yesterday morning while starting my 93 F150 with 5.0L and E4OD I heard a noise from the strater that concerned me. Following that each time I would try and turn the truck over I would hear a single clunking sound and nothing else. I pulled the starter to find that the part of the housing that sits inside the bellhousing had completed broken off. I got out all the peces I could see and did not notice any broken teeth on the flex plate and then put in a new starter. When I turned the new starter over I heard the same single clunking sound. I took it out and had someone turn the crank while observing the teeth on the flex plate and noticed no broken teeth nor found or heard any more peices of the first starter. Once I reinstalled the starter again I was able to get a couple turns then the single clunk. I again turned the crank and found no resistence so I removed all the plugs and tried to turn it over again. This time it spun free for several seconds before making an even louder clunking noise. I pulled the starter again to find 2 of the teeth damaged on it. The damage is to the leading edge of the gear as if it was not completely engaging. I am unsure at this point if there is damage to the flexplate which is causing all my problems, if there is still some pieces of the original starter left in the bell housing, if the new starter had problems to begin with or was the incorrect one (although it looked the same) or if there is some other problem that has been damaging the starters. Any ideas before I bite the bullet and have it towed somewhere? Note that all visual inspections of the flexplate and bell housing area has been with it still attached to the truck.

 

There are 2 reasons that a correct starter's nose gets broken off: backfire and misalignment. I should say those are the main reasons that cover 95% of cases, there are rare times where a rock gets in there or something else but if you still have the inspection cover in place that shouldn't happen. Have you ever had the old starter off before this or had any backfiring? If you or anyone else has had it off before, it could have been installed cocked in the hole and worn the ring gear funny, which eventually strained the starter enough that it finally broke. This would also explain partial engagement and damaged teeth on the new unit.

 

Thanks for the reply. The starter that broke yesterday has been installed since July of last year with no problems. the inspection cover was on so nothing should have gotten in there to do the damage. I am afraid that it may be a bent rod as I still can not find anything in the bell housing or any damage to the flexplate that I would think might be causing my problems.

 

It's possible that the flex plates bolts have come loose. You might try to push it back and forth.