1991 Lincoln Town Car malfunctioning engine starter

DAVIDDLW1

MEMBER
1991 LINCOLN TOWN CAR
V8
2WD
AUTOMATIC
195,000 MILES

Hi,
my starter on my 1991 lincoln seems not to be operating correctly. I tried starting my car and the starter made a whining noise and did not turn the crank. I took the starter out to test it by hooking battery jumper cables up to it. I grounded the starter with the negative cable and put the positive jumper cable on the small connector on the solinoid. The starter plunged outward with the cog on the end but the cog would not turn. Is the starter bad or just the motor, but solinoid still good. Or does the cog not turn because it is not suppose to. Thanks

5 Replies

MATHIASO

MECHANIC
1,209 POSTS

The starter may be bad because the cog should turn while engaging so it can spin the flywheel.
It retracts automatically when it feel the momentum of the flywheel.
Change the starter to take care of the problem.

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Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010 AT 9:06 AM

DAVIDDLW1

MEMBER
23 POSTS

I have tried 3 starters in this car and all are doing the same thing. Cod will not spin out of the car when I try to test it but the cog does extend outwards. When I put the starter back in the car I can hear the starter cog spinning but it is not extendind outwards to engage the fly wheel. I tried probing the wire that leads to the solinoid part of the starter and it seems that it has no power running through it. I used a test light on that. I also probe the wire that leads to the large screw that is on the starter below the solinoid and it had power to it. Could this be the case that I have a disconnected or maybe a bad starter ground somewhere on the car that affects the starter. I just installed this engine and maybe I grounded a wire wrong. I have notice that I grounded a wire right where I have my battery ground on. Could this cause this problem?

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Thursday, March 25th, 2010 AT 2:11 PM

MATHIASO

MECHANIC
1,209 POSTS

Hello daviddlw1.
The ground should not be the problem, but thank you for telling me that you just install the engine. You have tried 3 starters and they all doing the same thing.
What I want you to do is to rotate the engine with the crankshaft bolt(full revolution)and get back to me.

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Friday, March 26th, 2010 AT 1:09 AM

DAVIDDLW1

MEMBER
23 POSTS

Hi,
I rotated the engine like you wanted and the same thing is still happening. I took all 3 starters to my local auto zone to be tested and all tested great, so it is not the starter. I purchased the starter from a junk yard. Can you help?

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Sunday, March 28th, 2010 AT 3:06 PM

MATHIASO

MECHANIC
1,209 POSTS

I wanted to make sure the crankshaft is turning in full revolution and not locked, because if it is locked, the starter won't turn the flywheel to crank the engine.
That was the purpose of turning the crankshaft.
Now, if the crankshaft turns in full revolution without any mechanical binding(remember, you installed a used engine and you will never know what you got), then the problem is not the starter, but the wiring.
What is the battery voltage?
Have the starter ground on the engine block, make sure the ground is clean.
If the battery and starter are fine, the next thing to do is a voltage drop test.
If a connection is good, you should find little or no voltage drop and see less than 0.4 volts for most connections, and ideally less than 0.1 volts. But if you find more than a few tenths of a voltage drop across a connection, it indicates excessive resistance and a need for cleaning or repair.