Starting Trouble!! Please Read and help!!
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Starting Trouble!! Please Read and help!!
I hope that some on can help. So here is the story: I bought an 87 F-150 that ran fine at first. Then one morning the truck had no power, so I replaced the battery. Ran fine. Two days later I tried to start the truck and again no power. I took the truck to Advanced Auto and they said the Altinator was bad, so I replaced it and the positive battery cable. In the process of hooding up the new cable I broke the old solinoid and had to replace it. When I tried to start the truck it started then the thing kept trying to start, even with the key out. So I hurred and unhooked the battery, I tried another solinoid; same thing. I tried a third with the wires backwards, worked fine for two days, then it welded the solinoid leads togather again and the starter kept running again. Any ideas??? Any help would be appreciated...
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I think that maybe I am having a similar problem (without the solinoid trouble). My 93 F150 would not start one night. Banged on the starter and it worked. So, I replaced the starter and worked great for a year. Then it happened again. Starter shot again (when I removed it you could hear parts rolling around in it). I replaced the starter and worked great for a year. Now it is happening again. I have had three starters in it and they keep getting chewed up. Any idea why I can't keep a starter in it?
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From: central valley California
Jamwiest where are you buying your starter from? ans is it a remanufactured starter?
5 years ago i took the starter out of my pops 87 F 150 and compared the cost of purchasing a remanufactured unit or having the OEM that worked fine for 10 plus years and for about 100.00 I had it rebuilt with all new componets at a motor shop and it purrs along just fine..Buying those cheapo remanufactured units from autozone, kragan etc is just buying trouble and you will need a new one in about a year..just look at the warranty that comes with it..
5 years ago i took the starter out of my pops 87 F 150 and compared the cost of purchasing a remanufactured unit or having the OEM that worked fine for 10 plus years and for about 100.00 I had it rebuilt with all new componets at a motor shop and it purrs along just fine..Buying those cheapo remanufactured units from autozone, kragan etc is just buying trouble and you will need a new one in about a year..just look at the warranty that comes with it..
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From: central valley California
jwkiser2 At this point it would make sense to replace the starter an the solenoid relay along with it. buy the best quality that you can..new is always better than remanufactured and stay away from those cheapo auto places
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The only thing that I have done right in this mess is: I bought the starter at Napa with a lifetime warranty. So each time it goes bad I get a free one, though I still have to break down somewhere first.
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From: Central NY
Originally Posted by jamwiest
I think that maybe I am having a similar problem (without the solinoid trouble). My 93 F150 would not start one night. Banged on the starter and it worked. So, I replaced the starter and worked great for a year. Then it happened again. Starter shot again (when I removed it you could hear parts rolling around in it). I replaced the starter and worked great for a year. Now it is happening again. I have had three starters in it and they keep getting chewed up. Any idea why I can't keep a starter in it?
Tim
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Joined: Sep 2005
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The starter relay may have a short in it somewhere, replacing it will fix the problem. Or you could take it apart and look at it to readjust things, but like Jack01 said, new is better (when you can afford it and its something that wears out eventually). Check the wires from the battery to the relay and from the relay to the starter to make sure there isn't a short outside of the starter causing the circuit to bypass the relay alltogether.
~Matt
~Matt
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From: South Jordan, Utah
I've got a good friend who makes the rounds at the local boneyards scavenging alteranators and starters and then once he gets a truck load he makes a trip to CA to sell them to a remanufacturer. I am sure some are different, but he said he would watch as they put the pieces through a quick test and if they passed they would sand blast them and throw them in a box for resale. Funny thing is, the only alternator I've ever had that showed evidence of that was from NAPA. Lasted about a year which was about all the warranty was good for.