Starter troubles and replacement

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454cid

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The truck won't start periodically... starter won't turn. I pulled the starter a few months ago, and didn't see anything wrong. The engine had kicked back on me, and I thought I might see physical damage. A few times since, it's not wanted to cooperate, and turning the key a little extra hard SEEMED to work to get it running, so I thought my ignition switch was going out.

Over the weekend, it's gotten worse. Apparently it's the starter, or solenoid. Sometimes I have to have someone turn the key while I pound on the starter with my brass hammer. Just pounding on it, and then turning the key won't work.

Looking at starters, I really want the Denso, but it's more than I really should spend right now. Other options I like are a Remy (Cheapest and probably Chinese), and AC Delco, which I think is from Brazil... someone here recently bought one and I think that's where it was from.

Another option popped up. There's a little hole in the wall starter and alternator shop in a nearby town. I think I'm going to call them and get a ball park estimate on getting mine gone through.

Thankfully, I have an uncle with a heated garage, and as I found out a few months ago, the starter is not hard to remove and replace.
 

Oldblue98

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The truck won't start periodically... starter won't turn. I pulled the starter a few months ago, and didn't see anything wrong. The engine had kicked back on me, and I thought I might see physical damage. A few times since, it's not wanted to cooperate, and turning the key a little extra hard SEEMED to work to get it running, so I thought my ignition switch was going out.

Over the weekend, it's gotten worse. Apparently it's the starter, or solenoid. Sometimes I have to have someone turn the key while I pound on the starter with my brass hammer. Just pounding on it, and then turning the key won't work.

Looking at starters, I really want the Denso, but it's more than I really should spend right now. Other options I like are a Remy (Cheapest and probably Chinese), and AC Delco, which I think is from Brazil... someone here recently bought one and I think that's where it was from.

Another option popped up. There's a little hole in the wall starter and alternator shop in a nearby town. I think I'm going to call them and get a ball park estimate on getting mine gone through.

Thankfully, I have an uncle with a heated garage, and as I found out a few months ago, the starter is not hard to remove and replace.
If the kicking back thing becomes a continuing thing "Beware" Mine had started the kicking back thing, and ended up breaking the starter at the mounting holes... And after reading up on it a little it can be a common problem caused by Crank Sensor's that the plastic inside gets brittle and then gets oil soaked. The kick back can and has caused the starter mounting boss to break out of the engine blocks as well. When my starter kicked back and broke it took the ring gear out with it on the flex plate/flywheel. At the time I was getting ready to have transmission done anyway, so it had to come apart anyway. I replaced Sensor, starter, flywheel while it down. I used a AC/Delco New starter to replace it with and it has done fine . Don't ignore the kick back if it becomes a steady thing.
 

96dually454

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A lot of issues arise with starters because NO ONE torques the starter bolts. When replacing I advise to torque them, especially on high torque aftermarket starters.
 

someotherguy

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I'll add the kickback could also be due to other Vortec-specific issues like a cap going bad so it's crossfiring. I've seen more than one Vortec small block that is broken at the starter mount pad, not cool...they can also crack at the starter bolt hole which makes it to where the bolt won't stay tight.

The hole in the wall shop may be your best bet if they're still rebuilding original starters using quality parts. I've noticed SOME of the alternator/starter shops just push brand new Chinese for the super common applications because it's more cost-effective -short term- and that's what the market is pretty much driven by. These guys only rebuild the stuff you can't just walk in and buy a cheapie off the shelf.

Richard
 

454cid

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The kick back shouldn't be a problem, as it's not happening during normal starting. It happened when I was washing power steering fluid out of the engine compartment after a hose change. I've always power washed my engine, but the last couple of years I've started having issues doing that. Something has lost it's water resistance. I did remove the crank sensor, clean it, and re-install it with dielectric grease. That's actually when I got it to start again. I'm not sure if that was the problem, or if enough time had passed such that whatever else was causing the problem dried out. This took place a few months ago.

I just had to replace my ICM again, and I found out repeated ICM failures could be a bad coil. ICM's are only lasting me about a year or year and a half. I mention this because the bad ICM behavior is about the same as the engine getting wet, except when the engine gets wet, it will start once. I'm going to order a new Delphi coil today.

Since I'll have the coil off, I'll take a look at the distributor when I'm in there. The distributor is original, and the cap and rotor have been replaced once or twice.
 

Jcauli82

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I recently had this same issue with my 5.7 and it was a pain in the ass ....went through 4 oreillys and AutoZone starters in 2 weeks ....also did new distributor cap rotor etc during this time....anyways I only got a couple back fires one destroyed a starter nothing else though thank God.....I ended up getting new bolts for my starter and that seemed to help but after a couple easy starts it started making that grinding sound where hitting it with a hammer seems to be the only thing that helps ....so I unbolted my starter and then put it right back on torqued the bolts and it's started perfectly ever since.
 

454cid

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I just got off the phone with the shop... younger sounding guy answered. I was hoping for an old guy that remembers when the big block was new, but if he know his stuff, he knows his stuff.

He did try to steer me towards a starter that he already had, but at the price they didn't sound like cheap Chinese, and I think he mentioned that they were OEM... at $150. So maybe recent AC Delco? He said if he rebuilt mine it would be at least $120, but if it was just something like brushes/springs it may only be $50. He looked up the specific starter I should have, and said that he did have the parts.

So...

I'm going to order the AC Delco from Rockauto, and save my original. I will have him look at it later, and keep it as a spare.

Unfortunately, because the financial/banking industry is off for Presidents Day, I won't have money in the right account to order today.... have to wait to tomorrow.

I will torque the bolts properly... I torque almost everything spec.
 

Supercharged111

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Parts store electrical stuff is pure ******* garbage 454, the fact that they're lasting a year and change is not something I would attribute to a coil it's just that they're junk.
 

454cid

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Parts store electrical stuff is pure ******* garbage 454, the fact that they're lasting a year and change is not something I would attribute to a coil it's just that they're junk.

That's what I originally thought, but every one that I've gotten from Oreilly says it's US made, and something is causing a 1351 when the truck doesn't start right away. If I Google the code it's always a complete no-start condition and the ICM fixes it. I'll get the 1351 even on a brief-no-start/slow start. I reset one yesterday, and I assume it's from when the starter was acting up. This makes me think it's not the ICMs fault, but something is affecting it, eventually burning it out.

I know just because the ICM is US made, it doesn't guarantee it's a great part, but I sure feel better about it than if it were made some other places. The GM original actually was from Singapore, Though.
 

454cid

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I started looking at reviews on Amazon, and one recent review on the Delphi coil reports that it's Chinese. That doesn't surprise me since Delphi closed plants during their bankruptcy. It still could be decent, but I think that since I have other choices, I'm going to do so. I'm thinking NGK, since they are an ignition (and ceramics) company. Another one would be Denso.
 
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