Suck bang blow was just a description of the combustion process itself. If I was to describe the sound of the starter when it makes it it is more like hard screeching/grinding metal on metal.
As far as the timeing goes.... I am gonna try shimming this starter first. I got a buddy who thinks it going past the flywheel all together. Or, it was just cathching the back edge of the flywheel with the starter gear. as far as the bendix goes.... we bench tested the starter at my buddys shop and it was working fine. I should have just had the old sterter rebuilt instead of buying new. what a headache!!!

 

welll boys I shimed the starter and found it no good. I believe the starter is not going far enough to engage the flywheel. This is weird tho.... The starter has already enged before many times smooth as butter. I am wondering if........Does the starter need a certain amount of power to engage the flywheel? what I mean is .... if the starter does not have enough power does it not engage? will it spin short trying to engage? Or will it engage and spin slow or not spin at alll? I am gonna throw this truck in the ****ing detroit river!

 

i took the vin number you have posted and decoaded it with this link ~~> https://www.fleet.ford.com/maintenan...vinResults.asp the truck came with the 5.8 351 engine. in 1986 f250 red cab they only put 4.9 300 vin y, 5.0 302 vin n, 5.8 351 vin h, 6.9 420 vin 1, and the 7.5 460 vin l. now that doesnt mean it has the 351 in it. someone before you could have swaped engines in it. the biggest different between the 351w and 351m is where the water jack is on the top of the engine. w is on the intake manifold and m is on the block. thats the biggest differents in w and m 351. 302 and 351w look almost the same but the deck hight is wider on the 351w then the 302. 351m and 400 the only true wa to id them apart is to get the casting number off the crank in the oil pan by the first counter wait. my 86 f250 acording to the vin has the 6.9 in it but i no damn well it doesnt because i put a 6.6 400 in it that i bought for a 1981 f250 which was never offered in the 86 model.
have you tried shimming the starter. i had to shim my starter because it would grind when starting and some time wouldnt release right after starting.

 

i had a smaller bat then what was called for for my truck and as long as i had 12v on the bat it would start, but load help i needed to crank over more the a few times because it drained it too fast

 

https://www.fleet.ford.com/maintenan...ls/default.asp type in your vin number on this web site. hopefully this link will work

 

1 Q. that I have is did the parts person
ask what type of trans you have
on some fords there is a small differance between
an auto and a stick trans, and has a diff starter
this is something that should be double checked

 

I was thinking that the problem may be that they accidentally gave you the wrong starter. There is a difference between an automatic and a standard starter. That could be the problem. Or they could have accidentally given you the starter for a 302. Ive had to do this in a pinch on one of my old f150s. I swapped a 302 starter onto a 300 inline six. It worked, but sounded sick as sin...the same way you are describing yours. I'd pull the starter off and walk back into that parts place and make them double check it with you standing there.

Mistakes like this do happen....

 

This may sound a little strange, but I have seen it happen. The ring gear is welded onto the flywheel and I have seen the welds break and the ring gear spin on the flywheel. The starter will engage but will not turn the engine over as the ring gear is only spinning on the flywheel. The only way to check this is to remove the dust cover on the bottom of the trans. bellhousing. Have someone try to start the engine and see if the ring gear is spinning and not turning the fly wheel. Hope this helps. Sounds like you have tried everything else.

 

In answer to your question, The starter will not spin until the armature pole piece pulls in enough to make the connection inside the starter motor. Therefore, your overruning clutch (bendix) is pushed out to the engage position.

If your starter will not release, there is a spring inside that might have not been replaced when your unit was rebuilt. It could be weak.

I agree with the differences between the automatic and the manual tranny flywheels. Yes, there IS a difference!!

Always check the nose length when replacing your starter.

 

Ok... I finally fixed this thing. I returned the stater and exchanged for new one. Also, I got under the truck and inspected the housing cover the starter motor bolts to. I wondered if maybe it had been pushud out or something and I couldnt notice. so I whacked the b!tch with a hammer all around the outside. I whacked hard to. I actaully saw the cover start to move in. Jumped in she fired right up. Sounds a little rough but, it aint nothing me and my estwing framing hammer cant fix! LOL!
B!tch sprung a leak at the thermostat housing as soon as i GOT IT RUNNING. rEPLACED THE HOUSING AND THERMO, B!tch sprunkg another leak down under the engine at the back near the starter.LOL! I am really gonna throw this thing in the detroit river!

 

Leak near the starter? Sounds like a bad freeze plug to me! Do them all if that is the problem.

 

You are dead on!!! I think this thing is burning the starters out by leaking hot coolant on them? Does that sound possible? And... How the helll do I get this plug out at the back of the block above the starter. This thing is in a hell of a spot! There is a hole in the plug and I cant remove. Is there a trick? Is there a special tool? I hope I dont have to take out the engine. I might just cut a hole in the fire wall and patch it after?

 

if there are no loose connections, check your alternator. every time i am working on a vehicle and there is something totally out of the ordinary going on that has anything to do with electrical and i cant figure it out, it turns out that the alternator is not charging the battery enough and electrical equipment behaves strangley when it does not get the right voltage.

your description sounds to me like the starter is not engaging the ring gear properly. this is either because of bad teeth (on either gear), poor mounting, bad starter, wrong size/shape starter, or improper voltage.

since it is occurring intermittently, it cant really be that the starter is sized or shaped wrong, since that is not changing.

easy enough to look at the gears and make sure that they are good all the way around, so eliminate that one (assuming you looked all the way around the ring gear!)

bad starter mounts could do this, are the holes oversized for the bolts?, is it hard to get the starter mounting bolts in the holes? are the bolt holes cracked or split? if there is a mounting flange or spur, is it cracked or split? you mentioned that the starter was loose on its mounts at some point - make sure that you are torquing the bolts correctly.

its a new starter, right? so it probly ain't that, leave that guess til last.

that leaves us with voltage, which is pretty easy to check, start the truck, put all the lights on, check the voltage across the battery terminals, it should be above 13, preferably over 14. if it is 13 or less, then you have either a connection or an alternator problem. most parts stores will check your alternator for cheap or free. thats probly easier than searching the whole charging and starting system for a bad connection. if you dont feel like removing the alternator, go and shake every connection in the charging and starting systems and see what comes loose or feels too wiggly.

best i can think of. sure hope you dont have to buy another freakin battery again.

 

Lube up the bendix that is the part that moves to engage the teeth. Have you done any work to the motor to up the compression, If so you may need a geared starter!

 

ok... I think I figured it out. I fixed all the leaks and believe that they wre the problem. I believe that the rear frost plug was leaking hot coolant right on the top of the starter. It was landing right on the part that sticks up. I think it is the starter solenoid. I s it possible for this to have burned ou the starter? If I let the thing sit for a few days and turn it over it engages the flywheel for a few starts. Then in time it stops engaging and just spinning short. Would this be indicative of a bad solenoid? Any help is great. Thanks!