iv searched and havent found the exact thing but only SOMETIMES when i start my truck it sounds like the starter gear will throw out towards the flywheel hit it then free spin. it will do that a couple times then finally start. sometimes it will start up fine 10 times in a row then the next time just free spin. anyone have any ideas? i have a 2001 7.3 powerstroke with 148,000 original starter.

 

Either the starter mounted solenoid is not engaging it entirely (easy fix) or you have missing teeth on your flywheel or flexplate. Not so easy. I would pull the starter and have a looksee. Not a difficult task unless you are doing it in a pile of snow.

 

flywheel teeth look good and i pulled the starter off the truck and hooked it up to a battery and the gear throws out fine off the truck??

 

Bench testing? How can you tell how far the pinion type gear is extending. You may know something I don't, Hell I imagine a lot of people know a whole lot more that me. I am trying to come up with an idea with how to tell how far it is extending, anyone have any ideas?

 

How is the gear on the starter attached to the shaft? Maybe something there is broken, but only slips while under a load.

 

Interesting how it started doing it out of the blue, which leads me to believe the solenoid is not getting enough juice to throw the star gear out, i.e. bad connection or solenoid (which I believe is on the fender and not on the starter)? If you had just put a starter on, I would say it needed to be shimmed or something to get it to line up?

 

The one one the passenger side fender is really just a relay. The actual solenoid rides piggy backed on the starter and is spring loaded and extends the armature shaft into the flywheel or flexplate gear. When the key is released after the motor starts the spring returns the gear to its parked place.

 

Mine did exactly the same thing for two days.........then the TC/tranny took a poop. Hasn't happened again since tranny repair. It only happened a few times then everythiong good for a while then poop.

Not what you want to hear (me neither) but that is exacty the same scenerio I had.

 

I had this happen to me november of 06. From what I figured out, the oil leak from the turbo pedistal ran down to the starter and caused the over running clutch (the one that lets the tooth freewheel once the engine starts) to slip to the point where it wouldnt even turn the engine. It had the most problems when it was cold, and finally on black friday it crapped out on me. Had to plug the truck in and wait 3 hours till I could start it. Let me tell you how much fun it is to change one of these starters when its 20 with 30mph winds.

I put an AZ Duralast starter in that has the lifetime warranty. You'll be amazed how much faster the engine starts with a new one.

 

Sounds like you need a new starter solenoid. There is an electrical winding to "pull in" the shaft, on a lever system which then pushes out the starter pinion. Then there is a "hold-in" winding that holds the shaft in, holding the pinion out until you release the current. Sounds like the hold-in winding is going bad, and when its not acting up, the pinion throws out and then maintains a constant load on the teeth so they don't pull back in. Sometimes it may not engage (mesh) and click.

 

I was leaning towards the solenoid several posts ago. Those things are hard to find, I needed one last summer and was in a hurry so ended up buying an entire assembly. If you are on your original starter it is worth replacing anyway.

 

You can get a brand new starter from Bosch if you look around for a vendor that sells Bosch products.
Ask for part number SR 7529 N.
If you want the rebuilt: SR 7529 X.

 

alright thanks guys im jus gonna get a new starter. haulinboat you might be on to something there cause i have been waiting for the tranny to go cause its been doin this wierd thing in reverse when i put it in reverse it feels like the tc is trying to lock up and it bogs the motor down? dont know if that has something to do with line pressure or not but i think the tranny is on its way out.

 

The torque converter won't lock up in reverse. Ive backed up with my TC lock accidentally on, shift into D and the truck jerks and stalls.

 

what do you think it could be then? something id makin the engine bog down when i put it into reverse.