Repair Time

[19&41]

The starter in the explorer is starting to become balky at engaging the flywheel. I've ordered another on Amazon. They beat Rock Auto's price. $59. RA had the same unit for $88. I checked the reviews on the product and the majority are favorable. Now if there is some decent weather this weekend, I'll try doing the exchange.

[electra225]

What engine in is the Explorer? What major components, if any, need to come out to change the starter?

[19&41]

4.0 V6, It looks like it should be at least somewhat exposed.

[electra225]

Wasn't there a model of Mustang you had to remove cross members and maybe something else big to get to the starter? On the Probe, you had to remove the right front wheel and the right hand driveshaft in order to remove the alternator. Of course, the alternator was a major failure part.

I hope this starter project is more straightforward, and I'm glad that you are feeling well enough to tackle the project. Good luck!

[19&41]

You probably heard of the mustang from me. No more o' that crap. Here is the layout for the explorer.

[electra225]

I had to change the starter on a Chevy dump truck I had out in the middle of a stone quarry. It had the sweetest-running 366 I ever heard. I had to drop the right hand exhaust pipe to get the starter off. I broke a bolt off in the manifold, then broke a manifold bolt off in the head trying to fix my first mess. I drove it about 35 miles home with no right hand exhaust manifold. I hadn't had a bit of trouble out of the starter until I shut the engine off to load in the rock quarry. When I tried to start it again, all the starter did was click. I had to pull the intake manifold and the right hand cylinder head just to fix the broken manifold bolt. That was the worst feature of those old big block GM truck engines. Broken exhaust manifold bolts. If even one was broken, the exhaust would chirp and drive you nuts listening to it. The 366 had a sweet exhaust note, so I didn't want to ruin that sound. It had factory dual exhausts. IF you put glass packs on it, you couldn't stand the racket riding in that poorly insulated cab all day. I ran school bus mufflers on mine. The school bus 366's had single exhaust and the muffler was smaller than the cab and chassis models. And the mufflers were straight thru which increased fuel mileage from 3 miles to the gallon to 3.1 miles to the gallon.

It looks like your starter might actually be replaceable fairly easily. I see Ford ran the ground battery cable directly to the starter mounting bolts on that model. THAT was a great idea.

[William]

Rex, I wish you lots of luck, and, please be careful of your shoulder.

Bill

[19&41]

Oh believe me, I will.

[19&41]

The nature of this failure reminds me of a 350 V8 I had that had the exhaust routed close to the starter assembly. It would make a kicking sound when hitting start after the engine would get hot. I was advised the clearance of the solenoid in the field coil was too close and that it would be necessary to sand it down a bit. I did so and it eliminated that problem until It became necessary to replace the starter due to motor issues. The garage replaced it and the next time I ran the engine in stop and go traffic, it began the solenoid issue again.

[electra225]

The big block V-8's would do that, too. The starter was too close to the exhaust system. How are you coming with replacing your starter?

[19&41]

Hopefully it'll be this weekend.

[19&41]

Well, last weekend was too cold to do the job, so I hope to do it this next weekend. 67 degree temperatures are predicted. Also the car tells me it is time for an oil change, So to walmart for a jug of mobil 1 and the fatherless motorcraft oil filter for it.

[electra225]

I remember when I was working at the Cities Service station in town in 1966 we sold Kendall SuperB oil for 69 cents a quart. Cities Service brand oil was 49 cents for "high detergent". We sold Empire State reclaimed oil for 39 cents if you drove a clunker that burned lots of oil. We did an oil and filter change with a grease job for $7.50. We were the highest-priced station in town. You had to have it done every 1000 miles in the good old days. Now we change oil every 5000 miles and it costs five times more. God luck with your starter replacement, hoping for good weather.

[19&41]

My sister sent me a E flyer for a $65 oil change at jiffy lube. They're the reason I started changing my own. The oil and filter are well under $30. The only bad part is the filter is inverted under the engine and has the check valve that holds oil for the engine start, or whenever the filter is unfastened, whichever comes first.

[TC Chris]

I remember when I was working at the Cities Service station in town in 1966 we sold Kendall SuperB oil for 69 cents a quart. Cities Service brand oil was 49 cents for "high detergent". We sold Empire State reclaimed oil for 39 cents if you drove a clunker that burned lots of oil. We did an oil and filter change with a grease job for $7.50. We were the highest-priced station in town. You had to have it done every 1000 miles in the good old days. Now we change oil every 5000 miles and it costs five times more. God luck with your starter replacement, hoping for good weather.

OIl may have been cheap but it didn't provide the service the high-quality oils do now. At 78K miles the Chevy engine was quite tired. I recall how much smoke poured out of the road draft tube. I replaced a few pushrods when the ball ends wore out. My '38 Buick had a plugged-up rocker arm rail at about 60Kand needed rings. Now I use Mobil 1 and change about every 10K miles. The red truck uses a quart every 6K miles, just like when it was new, and the engine just ticked over 188K miles. It has gone 2-1/2 times as far as the Chevy and is in far better condition than the Chevy was before rebuild. Of course, it didn't have idiot teenagers stomping on the accelerator either, just Chris driving like his father.

And those chassis lube intervals too. What a pain. The Mustang has plugs where you can insert zerk fittings to squirt some grease in but the Ranger doesn't even have those. It needed various ball and tie-rod end joints at about 160K, by which time the old cars would have been through multiple sets of them, even with regular visits with the grease gun.

Chris Campbell

[electra225]

No question. I'm surprised our beloved old cars from the 1960's survived at all running horrible oil with lead in the gasoline. I remember having to do a tune-up on many cars every 5000 miles and certainly not over 10,000 miles. The plugs would be haired over with lead deposits. I installed the plugs in my Buick in 1997. I pulled one out a couple months ago and they looked like new still. They have a little over 6000 miles since I rebuilt the engine. You can't buy oil today that's as bad as the best was in 1963. I give the Buick a one-squirt grease job once a year. The driveshaft has to be pulled to lube the center CV joints and the slip yoke. That is quite the design. I had to put resonators on that Buick each year, the muffler and tail pipe each two years. Moisture and lead ate them up. I put on a new exhaust system in 1997 and it is still like the day I put it on. No lead and no salty roads.

[19&41]

I got a good start on it yesterday. The fasteners were on so tight, when I was able to get one loose, it let loose a snap like I hit the motor with a hammer. I could not budge any other fasteners on it and when my hands began to cramp badly, I put the fastener back on and went on to change the oil. I had mentioned it to my sister and this morning my great nephew called to offer to help on it. He is an excellent mechanic. He has a later model BMW apiece for his wife and he, having bought them as basket cases from their frustrated owners. He had it changed out in short order. Man, am I feeling old this evening. He has also offered to help me with changing out the struts all around, so I feel a bit lucky too.

[electra225]

It was good of your great nephew to offer to help. That MAY be one of the benefits of advancing age. Younger folks feel sorry for us then lend a hand. It's good you got it sorted.

[William]

Congrats, Rex, on getting it repaired. It is nice when family, or, friends offer to help. Especially, if the have the skill set to get the job done.

Bill

[19&41]

I think it was mostly the strength of his arms that got it. I'm glad he got it done as well.