89 Ford E-150 noise upon starting

Tiny
WOLFMANROSS
  • MEMBER
  • 1989 FORD F-150
  • V8
  • 2WD
  • AUTOMATIC
  • 200,000 MILES
I have an 89 ford E-150 (302). It has been on and off life support (so to speak) over the past couple years ( installed a new timing chain last fall). It has seemed to have some issues as of late however recently upon starting I was greeted with clattering rattling noise. I managed to keep it barely running ( hoping to drive it a mile to my yard) but as soon as I engaged into gear it died. After that all there was was a solenoid click. Pulled it back, pulled starter ( firewall solenoid) and ran jumpers to mounting assembly and hot terminal ( nothing happening). Am able to turn crank pulley with breaker bar and socket. I am not going to put a whole lot into this van. My question is, is it possible for a failing starter and/or solenoid spring to cause this much noise before failure. Any advice would be greatly appreciated as I am looking at up to $100 in replacements parts ( money which could be put into another vehicle).
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Monday, June 27th, 2011 AT 8:03 PM

5 Replies

Tiny
CADIEMAN
  • MECHANIC
  • 3,544 POSTS
Check the voltage through the selonid to the starter. The starter drive maybe hanging up on the fly wheel.
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Monday, June 27th, 2011 AT 9:13 PM
Tiny
WOLFMANROSS
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  • 4 POSTS
Starter drive hanging up on the flywheel would create some sound, have multimeter so will check out before installing another starter
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Monday, June 27th, 2011 AT 10:16 PM
Tiny
WOLFMANROSS
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Installed a new starter and van fired up fine on first try. On second attempt everything was totally dead (had headlights before, now nothing, not even solenoid click). Battery charged up to 14 volts but was reading 13.5 volts 8 hrs later (probably will continue to drop). Only thing I have now is inside dome lights. Also had one blown fusible link which I replaced. Cleaned up all connections(battery and solenoid). Any ideas would be appreciated.
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Wednesday, July 6th, 2011 AT 6:10 PM
Tiny
CADIEMAN
  • MECHANIC
  • 3,544 POSTS
You need to check the voltage at the starter.
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Wednesday, July 6th, 2011 AT 7:05 PM
Tiny
WOLFMANROSS
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Thanks for reply cadieman. Van is repaired. Actually solution was even simpler as in recheck the connections you had apart to clean up. One solenoid connecting wire was broken at the metal ring ( had to strip wire back) and hard to believe but the battery positive connection wasn't retightened. Multi-meter was a huge help on this.
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Friday, July 8th, 2011 AT 3:56 PM

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