Replacing starter on 7.5L advice
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Replacing starter on 7.5L advice
It's the older type with firewall-mounted relay. For '90 F250.
While replacing the starter seems fairly straight-forward (remove 2 bolts and an electrical connection), I wonder if I need shims for this new starter, or if the old one still has these shims I can remove and reuse.
While replacing the starter seems fairly straight-forward (remove 2 bolts and an electrical connection), I wonder if I need shims for this new starter, or if the old one still has these shims I can remove and reuse.
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From: Virginia
If the old starter has shims, definitely note were they went and re-use them. If there are no shims, I would not worry about it.
I haven't heard of many Fords needing shims, but I have heard some GM blocks needing shims. The reason the GM blocks needed shims(rumor I heard) is that GM had some sort of problem with some of the blocks, so in order to save them, they re-machined the bottom of the block. This moved the starter mounting pad up too far, so it had to be shimmed back down to fit the starter gear in the flywheel.
I haven't heard of many Fords needing shims, but I have heard some GM blocks needing shims. The reason the GM blocks needed shims(rumor I heard) is that GM had some sort of problem with some of the blocks, so in order to save them, they re-machined the bottom of the block. This moved the starter mounting pad up too far, so it had to be shimmed back down to fit the starter gear in the flywheel.
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Thanks to you guys and YouTube videos, today I popped-in a new starter on my 1996 F250 xlt 7.5 liter. 285,000 miles. It went in very easy. One thing, though. The moment of truth came and I went to start the truck and got nothing. Zero. No power at all. No gauge lights, no radio. Zip. Slightly nervous, I re-tightened the battery terminals and still nothing. I got my BMW 3 series over for a jump and put the jumper cables on the F250. When I started the truck, it fussed a bit, and made that familiar clicking sound again (a sign of a bad starter), but started up. I drove around town a bit. Came home and parked. Three hours later, went out and the truck fired up beautifully. Back to normal. In sum, I guess there can be a moment or two where the new, rebuilt NAPA starter needs help in it's very first try. After that, it works fine.
1996 Ford F250 xlt 4wd 7.5 liter
1990 Nissan pickup, 2.4 liter 1,035,000 miles
2006 BMW 325i 82,000 miles
1996 Ford F250 xlt 4wd 7.5 liter
1990 Nissan pickup, 2.4 liter 1,035,000 miles
2006 BMW 325i 82,000 miles
Last edited by ssenjo; Mar 14, 2020 at 09:52 PM. Reason: minor addition
Moderator
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 56,984
Likes: 2,738
From: Virginia
Thanks to you guys and YouTube videos, today I popped-in a new starter on my 1996 F250 xlt 7.5 liter. 285,000 miles. It went in very easy. One thing, though. The moment of truth came and I went to start the truck and got nothing. Zero. No power at all. No gauge lights, no radio. Zip. Slightly nervous, I re-tightened the battery terminals and still nothing. I got my BMW 3 series over for a jump and put the jumper cables on the F250. When I started the truck, it fussed a bit, and made that familiar clicking sound again (a sign of a bad starter), but started up. I drove around town a bit. Came home and parked. Three hours later, went out and the truck fired up beautifully. Back to normal. In sum, I guess there can be a moment or two where the new, rebuilt NAPA starter needs help in it's very first try. After that, it works fine.
1996 Ford F250 xlt 4wd 7.5 liter
1990 Nissan pickup, 2.4 liter 1,035,000 miles
2006 BMW 325i 82,000 miles
1996 Ford F250 xlt 4wd 7.5 liter
1990 Nissan pickup, 2.4 liter 1,035,000 miles
2006 BMW 325i 82,000 miles
New User
Joined: Mar 2020
Posts: 2
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If the clicking thing happens again. turn the headlights on and get someone to watch them while you try and start the truck. If the headlights go out during the clicking, it's not the starter but a poor connection on the battery or one of the other large fat cable connections under the hood, including the large ground cable ends. Very common problem. Sometimes you keep messing with it, and the poor connection will develop a little weld and start working for awhile. Then this little welded connection it had made by itself opens up again and you are back to the clicking. That is why I posted this in case it happens again. Do the headlight test to determine what the problem is.
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