This is what we called, "married to the tv", when I was a tv repairman. They developed problems all the time, but if one occurred right after we worked on it for something else, it had to be caused by our first repair. After that first repair, everything that went wrong was our fault. It's understandable how people can think that, but they can't blame us for the first problem because we hadn't touched it yet.
The other issue is the new problem didn't act up right after the first repair. There are indeed things we can accidentally do to lead to a new problem that doesn't show up right away, like an insufficiently tightened bolt, but most of the problems we cause show up right away when we can still correct them. When we do make mistakes, we deserve the chance to correct them. Most shop owners do a good job of taking care of their customers, but they have to be fair to their mechanics too. When the new problem can't be tied to the old one, the mechanic deserves to be paid for any additional work, and the shop expects parts to be paid for by you. In my city, many of the independent shops often discount these new repairs to help out good customers. It's a trade-off to keep loyal customers coming back.
That said, you could be correct that this new problem is related, but you left a lot of confusion in your description. "Crank" and "turn over" are the same thing. It means the starter motor is spinning the engine's crankshaft. A lot of people mistakenly think, "turning over" means they turned the ignition switch.
One common symptom is the starter solenoid makes a single, rather loud clunk when the ignition switch is turned to "crank". That can be caused by burned or arced switching contacts inside that solenoid. Each time the ignition switch is turned and released, those contacts spin a little and a new section shows up. That's why the starter may work after turning the ignition switch multiple times. As those contacts continue to burn away, it takes more and more tries before it works. After I ignored this on my mother's minivan for a few months, it finally took her 700 tries before she lost count, but with a blister on her thumb, it did finally start. (You can be sure I heard about it that night)! This is a new problem with the starter motor and is not related to the transmission repair.
Another symptom can be the starter motor spins, but its drive gear doesn't engage the ring gear to spin the engine. One somewhat common cause is worn teeth on that ring gear. This makes a loud grinding or screeching noise, but repeated attempts might turn the gear just enough that on the next try, a good tooth comes along for the starter to pull on. Once spinning, the engine usually continues to crank fine until it starts. When stopped, engines can tend to stop in the same position so the same thing will happen next time you try to start it. Starter motors have an "over-running clutch" as part of the drive gear. Ford had a real lot of trouble with theirs in the 1960s and 70s, but we don't see that very much anymore. That also would be a new problem not related to the transmission repair.
Related to those worn teeth, a better suspect, given the recent service, would be the bolts were not tightened sufficiently during the installation of the new transmission. Part of the procedure involves removing and reinstalling the starter motor. That leads me to the next question. When you asked the people at the dealership about this new problem, did a mechanic actually bring the truck inside and look at it, or did the service writer just tell you this is a different problem? Quite often service writers, (service advisors), never were mechanics, and they don't know how all the parts and systems are interrelated. If you are able to crawl underneath and feel if the starter is loose, I'd start with that since it would cost you nothing. If it is loose, return to the shop that did the work and tell them what you found. I'd be very surprised if they refused to handle that at no charge.
The next approach would be to visit is different shop and have them check for a loose starter. They won't be inclined to hide a problem they caused.
One last thing I have run into a few times, is the service writer will tell you this new problem isn't related to the first repair, because once it is checked and the mistake is corrected, he can tell you, "good news; no charge". He thinks you're going to be happy because you were expecting a bill, and he's the hero for saving you the repair cost. In fact, I'd be more worried about the aggravation, and of having to make additional trips to the shop.
If you can provide any more details or look at the symptoms I described, I can give you some better suggestions. To find the right diagrams, I also need to know if the truck has the start / stop system, and if it has pushbutton start. There can be up to three computer modules involved in the starting system, but I suspect, from your description so far, this isn't a computer-related problem.
Friday, February 13th, 2026 AT 5:07 PM
