Starter came off.

[99F250Smitty]

Anyone else ever had their starter dismount itself? Noticed truck was starting harder than usual Saturday. Used it to haul wood all day yesterday, Dumped last load went to start it again and a terrible noise, then just hear the starter spinning, got down under the truck and the starter was hanging by the wires, had broken the mount, as you will see in the pics, looks like 2 of the bolts worked their way out and the last one couldn't hold on.

 

[MINK]

That seems odd. Guess I was lucky to run around with only two bolts for the 3 years I onwed my 7.3 LOL


Honestly never seen that happen Brian.

 

[CSIPSD]

uhmmm.... I dont know if you noticed or not, but you appear to have a slight oil leak...

 

[HVFC6040]

my starter backed the bolts out before..ended up breaking the bell housing and cracking the entire tranny case. I would check everything under there to make sure there isnt any more damage

 

[Justin@DP-Tuner]

My starter bolts backed themselves out also. Thankfully I caught it before any major damage occurred. When I crawled under there I could wiggle the starter quite a bit.

I have an oil leak just like yours LOL have no clue where its coming from though.

 

[JD3020]

On my '90 with a 300 in it i kept having starter issues. Some days it would engage and some days it wouldn't, and it kept getting worse. It got to the point where i didn't trust it so i bought a new starter. Crawled under and one ear had broke off the starter and the only bolt holding the starter to the housing was almost backed out. Threw the new starter on and it was GTG.

 

[TheSmokinStroke2002]

I guess it was so excited to get to start the truck being it doesn't happen a lot it spit the bolts out lol.


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[Hotrodtractor]

Yep - I've seen that happen before - check everything - including looking through the starter hole and examining the flexplate.

 

[99F250Smitty]

uhmmm.... I dont know if you noticed or not, but you appear to have a slight oil leak...

Really? I hadn't noticed.

my starter backed the bolts out before..ended up breaking the bell housing and cracking the entire tranny case. I would check everything under there to make sure there isnt any more damage

That sucks. I will make sure to check everything.

My starter bolts backed themselves out also. Thankfully I caught it before any major damage occurred. When I crawled under there I could wiggle the starter quite a bit.

I have an oil leak just like yours LOL have no clue where its coming from though.

I have tried to find it and can't.

Yep - I've seen that happen before - check everything - including looking through the starter hole and examining the flexplate.

I will Jason.

 

[99F250Smitty]

Well I got a few minutes last night and pulled the starter down and out. The starter itself only has two mounting holes, looks like the other bolt is MIA, and the one couldn't hold on. Teeth on the starter are fine, not even a scuff, no cracks in bell housing etc. I couldn't finagle myself just right to see in the hole to check the flexplate but I will.

So now, what starters do you guys recommend?

 

[DIE5EL]

my inlaws 03 7.3 did that a year ago. Starter bolts backed out and starter was bouncing around. Luckily it did not hurt anything. I put a low strength thread locker on them. Haven't had any problems since. Ive had it off since to replace. Starter had 160,000 miles on it

 

[99F250Smitty]

I hate to replace it with the motor still working fine, but with the casting broken like it is, I don't have much choice.

 

[DocBar]

I just had the two long, skinny bolts that hold the motor itself in place back out to the point of almost coming apart. My truck would do anything but click, so I went to pull the starter and noticed the motor had a lot of play in it. The mounting bolts were hella tight, though. Dang near busted a gut getting them loose.

 

[Cat_rebel]

I guess it was so excited to get to start the truck being it doesn't happen a lot it spit the bolts out lol.

LOL

 

[ditch_dawg]

Yep I had this happen too. Luckily I caught before it came off completely. Replaced it with a high torque Nipondenso from DB electrical, but last I heard they were selling junk from China. And I would definitely put some lock-tite on there when you do install one.

 

[mojoman]

same deal here a couple years ago....keep your eye on those bolts...when mine backed out they ovaled the mounting holes....bolts aould start to back out after 3 or 4 starts...solution was a drill and tap, thread in redy-rod and double nut and Bob's yer Uncle...and with the ready-rod you don't have to support the starter...it'll hang off the rods...)

 

[mrplowjr_Ez_v]

If you were a little closer I'd give you my old starter, its one of those autozone life time warranty jobs, but the motor is SLOW but the housing is in good shape.

 

[99F250Smitty]

New one is installed with locktite on the bolts this time. So far so good. I will be keeping an eye on them for sure this time.

 

[SouthFlstrokin']

i went and got a new napa unit with a lifetime warranty. one of my favorite mods ever. cant wait to swap the starter when funds come about on my pos, its getting weak also

 

[abbottfarms]

Yep, had it loosen up a few times in my 7.3 since 01, but never to the point of doing damage. I check it about every other oil change now LOL