I have a problem with the cranking part on my 455. Starter sometimes hard starts (hesitates) and will not turn over at all on occassion especially when warm or hot. Battery is known good and checked with multimeter, battery wires are the thick NAPA (Beldon?) ones relatively new, and starter was tested off the car by Auto Zone as good under simulated load conditions. When it was off, I also opened up the solenoid and replaced the stock spring in there with a new one I had from Year One which is said to be a heavy duty spring that will help with heat soak concerns. I bolted up the starter after this spring replacement with same story. Car has stock exhaust manifolds and starter looks to be original by PN and verified with # in factory service manual. The solenoid looks newer but I haven't replaced it in the 6 yrs I've had the car. Starter had no shims up at mount points. Should I have some and what is the desired clearance between starter drive gear to flex plate? I bought some from the HELP section but will hold off on using them until advised. Also, the flex plate is new and correct for car. Can timing (if too far advanced) affect the symptoms the car is exhibiting? Timing is set at 10 degrees at idle and 34 degrees mechanical all in by 2500 RPM. Just looking for some advice on what to do next in this sequence? Could the starter have bad brushes or other internal problems and not reveal itself on the load testing? I'm thinking of taking the starter to another place locally that works on just starters/ alternators etc and getting a second opinion. I don't want to purchase another starter unit or solenoid if it's not needed. I'm all ears/ eyes to any suggestions guys. Thanks!
I would replace the solenoid and see if that helps. Better yet, use a remote solenoid. I put them on everything I work on. All you need to do is get a mid to late 60's or so Ford solenoid, mount it in a convenient location, transfer the wires from your "s" terminal to the new unit. Run a battery cable to the "s" side of the unit, another cable from the other side of the solenoid that goes to the starter terminal that formerly connected to the battery. Last, but very important, you need to make a small, heavy gauge (#10) jumper wire that goes from your stock solenoid's battery terminal to it's "s" terminal. First replace your stock solenoid, if that helps then do the above procedure and your solenoids will last much longer.
Well..... I took the starter unit to a serious battery/ starter repair shop (Franklin Battery in Warner Robins) for the second opinion. They loaded it up and said basically it needed a total rebuild to include new brushes, armature, drive gear, solenoid, etc. Here's what I've learned- don't take stuff like this to Auto Zone for testing cause you are at the mercy of incompentency of staff who will give you false info. To boot, I'll get to keep my numbers matching starter casing and have all the new internals inside it. Cost will be roughly $40.00 total parts and labor. I'll give an update to report back on if this solves the problem after getting it back in a day or so.
Evans, $40 to have yours rebuilt by guys who know what they're doing is a great price... you'll pay that for a rebuilt anyhow. Do you have a heat shield? Even though you're not running headers, you may want to put one on there.
You should consider the remote solenoid. It gets very hot here in the summer (many 100+ days) and I used to have alot of starter trouble. But I have had no heat related trouble on any vehicle that I have installed a remote solenoid on since I started doing it about 10 years ago.
