My truck has gremlins. Their favorite food? Starters...

[Daedalus]

Truck in question is a 92 Ranger XLT with a 2.3L and 5-speed. I bought my truck about 18 months ago. 6 months after I got it the starter it came with went out. I replaced it with one i bought off a guy doing a part out on a different ranger forum. The guy claimed it was only about 2 months old and judging by how clean it was when it arrived I'm inclined to believe him. That starter served me well for about another 6 months til it died.

When that starter went out I decided to go ahead and send it in to the ford dealership where my dad is the service manager to have it replaced. When it was at the dealership they put in a new (not re-manufactured) motorcraft starter. They also checked out the battery, cables, solenoid etc. This was about six months ago.

Well, I went out to go to work this morning and i got the familiar clicking solenoid indicating a dead starter. I took off the battery cables and they didn't look too bad (not shiny new but not really corroded). I cleaned up the clamps and battery terminals with some sandpaper till they were nice and shiny anyway just to be sure. Well, that didn't help. The battery is reading 12.7 and I'm showing zero resistance between the posts and clamps. When that didn't work i decided to try the old rap on the starter with a wrench while someone else tries to start it and on the second rap it fired up - indicating yet another bad starter. I called my dad and he ordered a replacement starter under the warranty for monday.

Any ideas why my ranger eats starters like this?

 

[JC 97]

That does seem abnormal.I had an old camaro that used to eat starters like that too.It had a big block 396 w/headers.I surmised that heat was killing the starter.I would have your dad ask a wrench to take the starter apart to find out what part failed and go from there.That very well might lead you in the right direction as to why they are failing.

 

[bobbywalter]

two wire starter?

 

[Daedalus]

Its got three wires to the starter. The ground wire from the battery, the big positive wire and the little positive wire.

And heat might have something to do with it now that you mention it. I have the leaky ass shift rail plugs on the M5od so its chronically low on ATF. I'm sure that leads to a not insignificant amount of extra heat. I'll have him mention that to the tech that works on it.

 

[bobbywalter]

you have a two wire starter then, if the small wire is a blade type connector, upgrade to a later bolt on type when the time come...in any case make a new tight connection.

jumping good clean power to the small wire at the starter will likely start it.

 

[igotit]

my 87 ranger diesel eats a starter every 6-8 mths aswell.
but i have the 4d55 mitsubishi engine,i dont think its a ford starter coupled to a midsu engine.im thinking it a wire/ground problem in the fords.

just a thought.....have you installed a heat shield on the starter,on my 4d55 i believe the starter is very close to the exhaust manifold(havent worked on it in years....been parked for almost 4 years),excess heat will ruin a good expensive starter.
my starter is about $285 at the ford dealership.....thats not installed either.