HalfAF

I'm truly getting desperate with my FE 351 LTD (FMX trans. It started (excuse pun) with the old clapper-starter chewing out its bearings (at least it was still cranking)Once repaired it would not engage intermittantly. Tried replacing solenoid with a new one but nogo,..then the starter contacts blew. Bought a recoed ford clapper. This one had a decent contact set but it still would occasionally not engage. Tried moving the flywheel and it would work. Got flywheel ring-gear replaced,..but incredibley it still played up.

Replaced battery with a new 11 plate and replaced all cables, and cleaned connextions..still the starter intermittantly wont engage. It is worse on cold mornings and some times it makes a graunching sound prior to engaging for a split second.

I'm wondering about the gearbox to engine earthing and the starter itself again.

Anyone throw any light on this bast**d of a problem?

Thanx Jason

 

xespack

Any one got any ideas on this?

Mine does the same thing occasionally. This morning its doing it over and over, cant get it to start at all, You can hear it spinning but it wont engage the flywheel. Any tips or tricks to get it started just once? Need to get the bastard out of the driveway to let another car out?

thanks

Ps This is kinda urgent.

Aaron

HalfAF

OK, the first thing to get going is to turn your engine a few degrees by using one of the drive belts. You simultaneously tension the belt with one hand and pull the belt up to turn the engine. Then try it. If it still wontwork, try running a good qual jumper from the battery to the starter post (watch for shorts). This will bypass remote solenoid, ignition key etc. Its easier to attach a spare alligator clip to the dtarter post so accidental shorts are less likely.

If it still wont engage and makes a 'tink' sound and then free revs, the starter drive gear has chipped its teeth badly,...about $65 for a new pinion.

I've noticed the problem is worse in the cold mornings too and I put that down to drag on the shaft as the pinion is pulled forward by the fork. Try lubing the shaft with a few drops of engine oil.

Currently mine is out again, and I'm removing some if the contact set load from the fork. The contacts live under the external cover which houses the clapper. The contact set is very robust and needs a lot of force to operate, so I'm lightening them up (by bending) and giving the saved force to pushing the pinion into mesh.

What pisses me off is the old starter was a mess: worn-out bushes ( about 1/8in of movement), worn pinion, but it *never did this problem* until it was literally falling apart.
If I suss this thing out I'll let you know.

HalfAF

The problem of failed engagement can be caused by a number of things, but having replaced everything it was time to do a modification. Modifications aren't the best thing as they can be covering up a fault.


If you operate the clapper mechanism manually the final crucial fraction of an inch of thrust determines how much force the pinion has meeting the flywheel teeth. At this point the contact set which removes current from the clapper coil is operated by the fork as well. This contact set proved to be very difficult to compress and was robbing the pinion of forward impetus.

Careful bending of the moving set to remove the amount of tension has seemed to work on my starter. It is important that not too much tension is removed as this will cause the contact set to burn.

Different era starters have different design contact sets. The earlier starters (which you may encounter on a swap basis) seem to have the heavy contact sets, the later lighter sets look cheap in design, but they still do the job without the engagement problem!

Jason

LTDHO

Jason,

You have a 351 FE??? I didn't know there were any.

I've never had any problem with the clapper starter motor. I fitted two solinoids so the starter got all the power it needed.
Bosch on the other hand. Nothing but problems.....

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HalfAF

Whoops typo, it's an FC ('79). So you put a second solenoid in parallel to share the current?
Sounds like a good idea.

Jason

9psi EB

Take of the wire to the starter solenoid, and make one up long enough to go from the same terminal on the starter the battery +. (dont connect it to the batt though)
Turn the key on and touch the wire to + and see if it starts right each time, if it does you might need to wire in a relay.

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HalfAF

Thanx,..I'll give it a go. The XD does suffer from reduced volts in the dash due to the crappy fuseable link's connextions and plugs/sockets. I had improved it by renewing these, but it's still down a volt with accesories on.

Jason

EXECJIM

What i have done in the past is fitted a relay to the starter motor, it has worked on different model cars too.

Im not sure if it will work on the remote type starter/solonoide set up, but it works real good on the combined starter/solonoide bosch starters.

Its also important to have good leads and good fittings, and a good earth lead to the motor.