Starter problem with my Ford E450 V10

[Lightfoot]

So I've been starting my E450 every 3-4 days just to keep the battery charged (let it idle for 15 - 20 min), and it hasn't had any problems, always starting up right away.
Then yesterday I tried to start it up and it doesn't even want to turn over, just makes a couple of click-clack sounds. I hooked up the battery charger and it read 55% so I charged it for a few hours, but even at 100% it does the same thing. I even tried jumping it but no help. Btw I've removed and cleaned the battery connections and all the wires look good and no other corrosion anywhere.

So the last thing I tried was to turn the ignition on and, using a screwdriver, I tried jumping the starter. But it just sparks and makes a click sound. Now I'm no mechanic so I can't figure out if there's some other cause or is it pretty good odds that the starter's gone bad? It doesn't look like it's too hard to remove, and I've heard that auto parts stores can test them for you, but I would make sure it's not something simple before taking that step. Thanks in advance for any help ;?D

[bansil]

hit the starter body a few times with a hammer or pc of pipe
and try it again

the clicking you are hearing is the magnetic plunger inside of the solenoid on the starter, it's job is to engage and pull the gear out of starter and engage the flywheel

If battery is good, and connections good and you have 12v at starter (sparks from jumping say yes)

you may have a bad spot on the armature or stuck brush

[opus]

Originally Posted by bansil

hit the starter body a few times with a hammer or pc of pipe
and try it again

We may not be the best mechanics here, but we're cheap and entertaining!

[Lightfoot]

Lol, yes it certainly is entertaining round here Opus, but don't sell yourselves short, while everyone's got an opinion, good advice is priceless

Thanks Bansil, I'll give that a try tomorrow afternoon. Someone at work suggested using aligator clips and a length of wire (using insulated gloves btw ;?) and try to jump the starter directly from the battery, anybody done this before? I don't want to fry anything, not sure if that's even a problem, but I guess the object is to bypass the solenoid, so where on the starter would I connect the jumper?

[bansil]

actually they are bypassing the ignition switch, it was an old way to remote start a vehicle or bump over engine doing timing etc

since it's a ford I assume you have a solinoid on the fender or somewhere?




the solinoid is the thing on top

your friend wants to connect one clip to the battery side lug, big red line from battery and other clip to terminal S, when this will bypass you ignition switch, nuetral safety switch etc and send 12 volts to you starter

it will not shock you, its only and amp or two to energize the solinoid

FYI the I is from old days, you would have that going to your coil and bypass the resistor (the resistor dropped 12v down to about 8v when running) this gave a hotter spark for cranking

the battery side should have about 12.6v and all other terminals 0v, when it's sitting there

when 12v supplied to S then you here the click and should have 12v on the other side going to the battery and whatever else, solinoid could be wore out, so try this and see if you get 12v on side going to starter,DO NOT KEEP SOLINOID "ENGAGED" FOR MORE THAN 10 SECONDS INCASE STARTER IS SHORTED OUT,

let us know updates

[Lightfoot]

Thanks again Bansil, and nice diagram, that simplifies it ;?D. So far nothings worked so I'm guessing I've got a dead starter. Unfortunately when I went to take it out, after removing the first bolt I noticed that the second was missing and THEN I saw why it was missing, the piece of metal on the transmission housing that it bolts into was broke off , and since it was completely missing (and the starter isn't damaged physically) I'm thinking that it's been gone since they last replaced the starter. So while the starter seems to be held in place pretty tight with just the 2 bolts I'm bummed cuz that looks like a problem waiting to happen - anyone else ever see this and is there a fix? The transmission case looks like aluminum, so I'm guessing the only fix is to take it a shop and have them weld it

[Lightfoot]

It's alive, aahahhaa! Man, I put that new starter in (used the super Loctite so those 2 bolts will really hold), also changed out the battery cable clamps as well as the starter cable ends cuz they looked kinda beatup, and it fired up the moment I turned the key, I seriously could not believe the difference! Before, it would take 1 to 2 seconds to fire up, sometimes had to try a second time cuz it would die, but this time it literally exploded to life, I can't believe a starter can could make that much difference. Of course I suppose clean electrical connections don't hurt.
So thanks for the advice, between that and some Youtube videos it was pretty simple, so now I guess I'll drop that transmission and rebuild it, easy peasy right?

[Ben Alth]

I'm having a similar issue.

1997 bluebird all American. Cummins 8.3.

The bus was firing up fine when I left AZ but once back in MD I noticed it would take longer and longer to turn over. (several seconds). Once it stopped turning over, I jumped it with my Honda element and it fired up after 5min. Charged the batteries to full and once in the bus, nothing but again jumped just fine. Am I looking at a bad starter solenoid?

Thanks in advance for anyone's time,

Ben