Engine Foxbody idle/throttle issues

Cause and effect...
Cause there is oil dripping on the starter......
It's not supposed to be oiled, only operates (hopefully) for a few seconds.
I won't bore you with 'my '97 Super Duty has 600k+ miles and only replaced starter once'. True story.
Effect...
Oil seepage disrupts the electrical current, dirt and crude gathers on the oily residue making matters worse. Inside and out.
To put it in perspective, take a scrap piece of metal, any metal, place a couple drops in the centre, stick it in a corner, on a shelf, under your car, someplace out of the sun and out of your way. You will be surprised how much it spreads in a week or so. Imagine months and miles, heat cycles, you get the picture.
Replace the starter pay'n attention to the condition of cables and connections, fix the oil leak, most times it's the valve cover gaskets.
Now go forth my friend and be powerful :nice:
 
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Cause and effect...
Cause there is oil dripping on the starter......
It's not supposed to be oiled, only operates (hopefully) for a few seconds.
I won't bore you with 'my '97 Super Duty has 600k+ miles and only replaced starter once'. True story.
Effect...
Oil seepage disrupts the electrical current, dirt and crude gathers on the oily residue making matters worse. Inside and out.
To put it in perspective, take a scrap piece of metal, any metal, place a couple drops in the centre, stick it in a corner, on a shelf, under your car, someplace out of the sun and out of your way. You will be surprised how much it spreads in a week or so. Imagine months and miles, heat cycles, you get the picture.
Replace the starter pay'n attention to the condition of cables and connections, fix the oil leak, most times it's the valve cover gaskets.
Now go forth my friend and be powerful :nice:
Sucks. Spent a lot of money on the starter just a couple months ago. Oh well I guess.
 
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Sucks. Spent a lot of money on the starter just a couple months ago. Oh well I guess.
well aftermarket parts just don't have the quality 'contol' anymore, that said, a lot of cranking like a 'no start' condition takes a toll on them. I try to get stuff like starters and alternator from the O'Reilly Zone with a 'lifetime guaranty '
 
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Sucks. Spent a lot of money on the starter just a couple months ago. Oh well I guess.
well aftermarket parts just don't have the quality 'contol' anymore, that said, a lot of cranking like a 'no start' condition takes a toll on them. I try to get stuff like starters and alternator from the O'Reilly Zone with a 'lifetime guaranty '
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
Sucks. Spent a lot of money on the starter just a couple months ago. Oh well I guess.

Fix the oil leak, if you haven't done that already, and look for a shop in your area that rebuilds starters. I can almost guarantee you that a rebuilt starter out of an actual shop is going to be more reliable than [anything] that you could find on a shelf today.

Like the General suggested, the quality control just isn't there anymore. You get an old guy in a shop, he rebuilds these things with components he's proven over and over.
 
Fix the oil leak, if you haven't done that already, and look for a shop in your area that rebuilds starters. I can almost guarantee you that a rebuilt starter out of an actual shop is going to be more reliable than [anything] that you could find on a shelf today.

Like the General suggested, the quality control just isn't there anymore. You get an old guy in a shop, he rebuilds these things with components he's proven over and over.
Old Guys rule......
 
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Update: the starter problem was just the trigger wire not making a good connection. Starts fine now, and drives great. It seems to have some little hiccups. The idle sticks when I clutch in coming to a stop, but I think that’s because I don’t have a speedo right now. It does overheat in traffic aswell but I think that’s because I’ve been running pure distilled water with no coolant since it’s been running. I’m gonna have to do a flush and get some coolant in there. Other than that, it seems okay so far!
 
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Plugs solved that problem! Runs super smooth now. But with one solved comes another.

I cannot keep the car cool with the AC on. It does great sitting at idle in 90°+ with no AC on, but it’ll overheat once you crank the AC. And I mean it’ll creep all the way up towards the top of the gauge.

I have flushed the system with prestone’s kit, ran the prestone cleaner, and refilled the radiator bleeding the air out using a funnel. What I have noticed while I’m bleeding it for the second time, even after 15-30 minutes of running heat on max, the air bubbles will not stop coming..

I’m supposed to be taking this thing to myrtle next weekend for a week. Are electric fans going to solve my issue, or do I have something more serious?

I also replaced the thermostat. The prior one was brand new, but I replaced it anyway, and that didn’t fix it.
 
Plugs solved that problem! Runs super smooth now. But with one solved comes another.

I cannot keep the car cool with the AC on. It does great sitting at idle in 90°+ with no AC on, but it’ll overheat once you crank the AC. And I mean it’ll creep all the way up towards the top of the gauge.

I have flushed the system with prestone’s kit, ran the prestone cleaner, and refilled the radiator bleeding the air out using a funnel. What I have noticed while I’m bleeding it for the second time, even after 15-30 minutes of running heat on max, the air bubbles will not stop coming..

I’m supposed to be taking this thing to myrtle next weekend for a week. Are electric fans going to solve my issue, or do I have something more serious?

I also replaced the thermostat. The prior one was brand new, but I replaced it anyway, and that didn’t fix it.
Also, clutch is new, and water pump is new. The radiator is a cheap one from autozone or rock auto and it’s like 3 years old. Maybe a new radiator?
 
I think there is a inexpensive test kit for combustion gases in coolant
I poked around the inter web a couple seconds, seems I remember 'combustion test strips' that you dipped into the rad coolant to show contamination but didn't find any.
What? They were too easy?
I’ll see if the parts store has some strips. And whatcha mean, what was too easy?