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Cooling system update
Topic Started: May 15 2004, 05:13 AM (898 Views)
wheels
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Advanced Stanger
Well things were going great until.................

Had to take the car in to a show yesterday, got caught in pretty bad traffic. Temp gauge never went haywire, temp lite never came on......all good I thought.but NO!!! :choked:

When I parked outside the venue to find the guy to put the car in the display, I switched off the car. When I went to start it again after getting my instructiions all I heard was a dull click . Very embarrassing!!
End result, I had to wait an hour with the bonnet up for the starter solenoid to cool down. After I had smoked about 10 cigarettes and used swearwords usually reserved for XXX rated movies I fired her up and she started without a problem. :D
What gives? Did the solenoid get too hot and if so how can I stop this?
What do you guys do?
 
Thunderford67
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Extended Member
From my experience... it doesn't sound like a solenoid problem.
I'm not sure of your application, but Fords normally use a starter relay (mounted on the inner fender... GM uses a solenoid attatched to the starter motor).
First off... There is very minimal clearance between the starter housing and armature... Ford starters are sensative to exhaust heat... if your pipes are too close to it, and expansion from heat will cause the armature to drag... a heat shield may help/be rquired...
The other is that the armature bushings are worn to the point that they're allowing the armature to "drop" and further reducing the clearance making it more sensative to the heat expansion of the housing... in which case, you'll need to rekit the starter, hopefully the starter nose cone is salvageable. The bushings are very thin and I've seen the armature shaft worn through the bushing and into the nose cone rendering it unreuseable in which case, go for a complete rebuild/exchange unit (good luck trying to find just a nose cone and the correct one to boot!!!).
Hope this helps! :drivin:
 
wheels
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Advanced Stanger
Thanks mate. I'll have a bit of a look at that when I get the car back on Sunday night (it's in a motor trade show so I feel confident leaving it there unattended - no kids, no prams!! :clapping: ) I might have to sniff around and see if I can find a good aftermarket starter.
 
wheels
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Advanced Stanger
Oh yeah and you're right. It is a starter relay I just use the word solenoid from force of habit. :D
 
Thunderford67
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wheels
May 21 2004, 10:24 PM
I just use the word solenoid from force of habit. :D

Yeah... some old non-Ford habits are hard to break!!! Kind of like being from the poor side of town, putting yourself through finishing school and then somebody picks up on a slip of the tongue and knowing your history!!! It sucks eh??? (slip of the print that indicates Canuk).
 
Thunderford67
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wheels
May 21 2004, 10:23 PM
I might have to sniff around and see if I can find a good aftermarket starter.

Probably not aftermarket, more likely a rebuilt/exchange unit...
Avoid having to rebuild it yourself unless you have the equipment to test the windings etc. Rebuilt units are already checked out, clean and painted and usually come with some kind of guarantee/warranty.
Just some more words of advice... If you get an exchange unit, don't return your old one (core) until you are sure the replacement unit is correct... reason #1... sometimes the nose cones aren't for the same application... different length resulting in the starter either not engaging, or not disengaging (resulting in the starter turning into a generator once the engine starts... not good... smoke starts!!!) #2... if you hand over your original and you do have a problem with the new one after installed (eg. nose cone length, bendix tooth count...) by the time you get back to the supplier, your original (required for comparison) may be long gone!!! That's when the supplier puts the onus/blame on you because they supplied you with the one listed in the book... (real headaches start here)...your next task would be to search out another same as the original (?) and if not from the same supplier, end up using the recently purchased unit as a core... loosing more money and driving time!!! :cry: :cry: :cry:
 
wheels
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Advanced Stanger
Thanks for the advice..............I'll take the starter off the car along with the relay and check em both out. I do know that there are some good companies this end of the world who make some good gear for the windsor motor, I'll investigate and let you know what I come up with.
 
Rumble
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Nice steering wheel... whoa it's on the passenger side of the car! :yikes:
 
wheels
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Advanced Stanger
Yeah yeah rumble I know!! I suppose I should update this post. I ended up getting a Wilson hi torque starter because the starter that was on the car was the original from 1973. End result, the starter was polling when it got hot. 31 years old, I'm not suprised!! While I was there I replaced all the original Ford leads with new heavier guage leads - thats the negative from the battery, the positive to the starter and also to the clacker. Starts with absolutely no problems now! Also had to replace the alternator 2 days later. It's always the way, you leave one old component in a system and it will fail cause everthing around it is new!!
 
Thunderford67
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Glad to hear you got that cleared up!!!
Re that part failure issue... ever notice that when one head lite is replaced for whatever reason... the other one is soon to follow??? :gripe:
 
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