- Apr 2, 2005
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how does oil leak from the engine into the starter?rbohm said:as dave said, header heat can ruin a starter. what happens is the grease in the starter gets cooked, making the starter a bit sluggish. and as oil leaks into the starter from the engine, it covers everything inside and also gets cooked, preventing good contact between the brushes in the motor and the commutator on the armature, again making things hard on the starter. ultimately the insulation on the armature windings breaks down and kills the starter completely. you can wrap the headers with header wrap, install a heat shield, install a mini starter, modify the headers for more clearance(if you have to room to), or any combination of the above. my preference would be to wrap the headers, and install a hi torque mini starter.
69 302/351c said:My 351c with long tube headers was slowly cooking my starter. Wouldn't start ( turn over) for about 10 minutes after motor was hot. Replaced all the wiring, tried another stock starter, wrapped the starter and headers...not an easy job with space and clearance issues. Finally went to a hi-torque mini starter and problem solved.
Max Power said:Rear main via the flywheel or flexplate.
It's not very common, actually.
rbohm said:actually oil comes from leaky valve cover gaskets, and in high mileage engines from around the plug holes where oil wicks up around the threads. and it is more common than you think.
I tried one of the newer starters with my older 157 tooth block plate, and they don't fit. The newer applications are 1/16" larger in diameter where they fit into the block plate. I thought at first it was an aftermarket starter casting, but it wasn't, it was a genuine Ford casting.Edbert said:As others have said, bite the bullet and get a high torque mini starter from the parts store, give them any post 86 5.0 Mustang as the application. You will have tons of room for cooling and they are easier to install, weigh less, have more power, and with the solenoid on the starter you can clean up the engine bay wiring considerably. The only down side is the price.
Other option is to keep buying the el-cheapo ones from Autozone/Napa/etc. with the liftime warranty and plan on replacing them on a regular basis.