Starter damage on track

[VoodooBoss]

You have a 5 yr 60,000 mile power train warranty. Has it expired? The one on my old Boss will expire this Saturday

 

[302 Hi Pro]

Yes, that will be a major engine problem and would explain the starter housing wear from the flywheel ring gear.

Rick has a good point about checking into a possible P/T warranty claim. Mine expires by time December 2016, hoping your still within the initial 5 year period.

Good luck with your repair.
2HP

 

[BigTaco]

Crazy, I would have thought that his engine would haven given up the ghost with that much play in the crank......

Hopefully it's covered under warranty.

BT

 

[k98dave]

I did look into the gear ring possibly shifting, the front face of the gear is slightly behind the front face of the flywheel so it's not obvious that it has moved, but without a new flywheel to compare to, I can't tell for sure.

I did see something that was somewhat disturbing last night. I had my wife look at the front crank pulley while I pried the flywheel away from the engine and while I could not see any movement in the back, she said she saw it move about 1/4". Could be a good chance that I somehow lost the thrust bearing / washer on the engine. Now my course of action will be to pull the engine rather that the trans. It will be more work, but either way I'll have access to the flywheel and clutch. I'll just also gain access to the engine internals in case it is a bad thrust bearing / washer. The service manual shows the last lower crank bearing works in conjunction with an upper thrust washer to provide crank thrust control. Hopefully, there isn't too much damage inside when I get everything apart, after all it ran 700 + miles home from the track without any issues. I got it started last night to back it into the garage to make an engine pull easier and everything ran and sounded normal. I'll post some pictures and additional discussion once I get this sorted out. Hopefully no one else runs into this problem, cause it's turning out to be a lot worse than just a starter replacement.

Thanks to everyone for all the input. The response on this forum has been great.


That doesn't make sense either? If you had no movement at the flywheel don't see how front of the crank could move that much? Have you drained oil to see if any metallic particles are there?

 

[Hermes]

That doesn't make sense either? If you had no movement at the flywheel don't see how front of the crank could move that much? Have you drained oil to see if any metallic particles are there?

I may have mis-stated what I believe happened. I did not see the movement since I was working through the small starter opening, but I am sure the flywheel did move with the crank. The reason I mentioned this is because I tried it the day before and didn't see anything. It's just that it was hard to see from when I was.

I got my car in Apr 2011, so I went over 5 years already but only have 36k miles. May be worth having the dealer look since I'm low on miles and only 3 months past my 5 years.

Can drain oil tonight and look for babbit, but may try the dealer route first.

 

[k98dave]

Good luck with dealer, I would expect the local factory rep to have to make the call on that.
My car is same build date but with only 12k However before factory went out I purchased an additional 4 year 75k bumper to bumper from outside warranty company. Hope I don't have to use it and it cost 1500 but its cheap insurance.

 

[TMSBOSS]

I did look into the gear ring possibly shifting, the front face of the gear is slightly behind the front face of the flywheel so it's not obvious that it has moved, but without a new flywheel to compare to, I can't tell for sure.

I just measured the distance the ring gear is set below the face of the flywheel on a stock flywheel

.142.

Hope this helps

 

[Hermes]

I just measured the distance the ring gear is set below the face of the flywheel on a stock flywheel

.142.

Thanks that helps a lot. I'm pretty sure I can get my calipers in there. Will measure tonight and compare. I know crank axial end play is very small so I'm not too optimistic since my wife said she saw the crank pulley move when I pried the flywheel, but I would be real excited if it was just a shift in the flywheel gear.

 

[TMSBOSS]

That's what I am pullin for.

Great reason for a clutch up grade..

 

[Hermes]

I really wanted to dig into the car last weekend, but made an appointment to have the dealer look at my starter issue tonight. When I put the starter back in, I measured the distance between the gear ring and the engine side of the fly wheel and saw the gear is 0.030" forward of the flywheel, not the 0.142" aft as measured by TMS BOSS. This is great news as the tranny is a lot easier to remove than the engine. Already looking at new clutch and flywheel. I'll see what the dealer says tonight.

 

[TMSBOSS]

Excellent. Although a clutch and flywheel are not cheap, this is much better than an engine.

Good luck with the repairs.

 

[SBY_2013]

My starter died at Road America last year too. Mine was a problem with the starter solenoid. I'm thinking Road America might be the problem.

 

[Hermes]

I had the car at the dealership while I was on vacation. I tried unsuccessfully to see if Ford might cover this as I was just 2 months outside my warrantee and just got the car home last weekend. I finally got the transmission out last night and found that the outside ring on the starter had moved forward. There is a shoulder on the flywheel that prevents the ring from moving backward, but it can move forward. I was able to move it with very little effort with just a light tap. I have 2 theories on why the ring is so loose on the flywheel now. One theory is that it spun on the flywheel and removed some material thus reducing the press. The other is that the ring may have cracked therefore reducing the press. I'll pull the clutch and flywheel tonight or tomorrow and inspect the flywheel ring.

In the mean time I ordered a Spec aluminum flywheel that has fasteners holding the ring to the flywheel. I think this was probably a rare isolated incident, but it can't hurt to have a few fasteners. Maybe if the ring did crack, there might have been some sort of material imperfection.

Thanks to everyone who contributed ideas on what might have happened, I was definitely confused when I first saw the starter. By the way when I pushed the ring up against the shoulder I checked the clearance at 0.150 within 8 thousands of what TMSBoss measured so that was very helpful.