Hey yall,

Hope everyone is doin better than me right now. Some may remember last month or so ago when I installed the DB Electrical HT starter and had to shave off a bit of my crossmember to get that MONSTER in there.

Heres the deal now. Need yalls help again. about 2 weeks or so after the install (no issues)we went to Parker and the truck acted up again. Went to start, all dash lights good and turned the key and NOTHING. didn't hear nothing strange etc... Tried it a second time and she fired right up no problem.

Well bout a week ago it started doing it intermidately. All normal, no start. Try a couple more times and it starts. Today the wife was runnin round town for groceries and that, well, no start. I went out there and crawled under the truck (bang on starter)to have her try to start and no luck. I did hear the started trying to kick over but it was almost like its locked up. I had the wife try several times and I just kept hearing a click(ting noise) STILL no start.
I touched the starter and it was real hot. Does this sound like a heat issue and this thing went bad or whats yalls opinion???

Thanks all sure appreciate it...

 

If it got hot while not turning, it's probabably bad.

 

Yeah I figured. Wouldnt ya know. Ima let it cool down and seewhat it does. if it dont start tonight I will call DB for a new one. Thanks brother..

 

Make sure you have enough voltage. Low voltage could cause the heat build up, but it sounds like your starter is locked up.

 

Hey, another person who has the same issue as me it sounds. My truck does that every once in a while. Its almost as if the starter plunger works but the starter doesn't spin. After waiting for a while, it'll start fine. You can check your voltage through the cluster by putting the keys into the ign, hold the trip reset down, then turn the key to on without starting. Keep holding the trip meter reset down until the odometer reads 'test'. Then click through the menu until you see 'batt xx.x' If you are less than about 11 volts, the starter won't engage and spin very well. So far, I am not impressed at all by the DB. I called DB and they were little help unfortunately...

 

Are your batt connections clean? Some of the wires may be corroded internally if you have voltage drops that are high.

 

I will check that today. I have two new Red Tops in the truck and the cables seem to be good to go. I will run the test you mentioned and take the batteries out and have them tested. Been on hold w/ DB Electrical for 20 minutes just waitn' to talk to someone

I am now wondering if this HT starter is going to be worth it in the long run. I hate having to ship stuff back and forth when I could run down to Nappa and have the truck back up and running.

 

I think you are on the right track. Sounds like one of the field coils failed in the starter. Keep us informed on the fix and if the HT starter works out for you. This is why I try to use new Ford parts when possible. I really don't like doing work twice.

 

Subscribing. That was/is going to be what I change to. Let us know how you guys are treated by the company. Good to have first hand experence with customer service.

Good luck.

 

Well, finally got someone on the phone after 30 minutes of waiting and calling back. Barely got a chance to explain and the guy asked me how I paid(by credit card), pulled me up on their system and said we will have one shipped out for you today and was ready to get off the phone.

I stopped him before he could let me go and asked : "how long will it take to get here?" he told me from there to Mesa, Az about 3-5 business days or so.... I wanted to ask if he could do better but, I didn't even bother.

I don't know. It seems as though they go through this on a frequent basis and all but I would think that when a customer spends his/her hard earned $$$, especially in this economy, they might want to drop coin on express shipping for a customer in need seeing that their vehicle is now down because of a bad part supplied by them.

We will se what happens when the next on comes in. I definately won't be throwing away the packaging and box on this one, just in case.....

 

On occasion I have the same issue with my starter, the fix is to put the truck in reverse, roll it back a few inches, bump the gear into neitral, and it should start. Yours is probably getting hung up somewhere on the flywheel, like mine is. However; mine does that once maybe twice a year if that. Give it a try.

 

Kinda of the same issue here, but not with the same vendor.
Starter quit OEM unit pulled it took it to a local builder who has been around at least 30 years that i know of. Got reman unit installed it, worked fine for about three days. Wife went to pickup a piece of furniture she ordered she called me from the loading doc " your f%&*ing truck wont start" I KNEW I was in DEEP stuff she Never uses that word. called the shop went & picked up another one, It happened to be the one that came out of my truck so I was pretty comfortable it would be OK. Got there installed it and the same stuff the first one would do starter would klick but no go. Thought might be bats hooked company truck to mine do diff.
So pulled flywheel cover craled under and had the wife hit starter the nose cone was hitting the teeth of the ringear. So Im thinking now what the heck am I gonna do, Losened the starter bolts so I could move it a bit had the wife crank it over It made a heck of a noise but started.
Wife jumped in the company truck and informed me I could pick it up at the house she was not driving that POS again. Took the starter back to the bulider he advised to go to (Here it comes) NAPA & get one and see what happens. So I did the next day and it works just fine. the original shop covered my core cost & the difference in the cost of starter.
They are a good guys but He told me he had just recently started buying rebuild parts from south of the border and that must be it. I was kinda of shocked but it did not really surprise me everybody is trying to cut costs but he has decided its not worth the problems to buy the cheaper stuff because of the issues he has had. So I have learned the extra 40.00 bucks up front is worth not having a pi$$ed off wife and changing starters 2 more times