Early Ford V-8 Club Forum

EFV-8 Club Forum / General Ford Discussion / Starter locks up

Reply to Discussion | New Discussion << previous || next >>

Posted By Discussion Topic: Starter locks up -- page: 1 2     jyakel 08-05-2020 @ 6:02 AM reply profile send p.m. Member Posts: 79 Joined: Oct 2014 Gentlemen, I have a 1950 Ford Custom with a Mercury 8CM flathead V8 with an over drive transmission. It is a 6V positive ground electrical system. The Merc 8CM is not the original engine but it is very period correct. It has the standard cylinder heads, manifolds, Holley 94 carburetor just like an 8BA. My problem is this; the starter has locked up twice. Let me explain what happens. I will go to start the car and I hear the starter solenoid click and I hear the starter click (probably bendix spring engaging) and then nothing! The starter is locked up and won't release from the fly wheel. Very frustrating. The first time this happened I was able to remove the starter from the engine. I visually checked the starter and bendix spring and all looked fine. (I'm really not sure how the bendix spring works). Anyway, I thought it was a one-time anomaly so I reinstalled the starter and all worked fine. This was about 1 to 1-1/2 years ago. Now, as I was going to take a Sunday ride last Sunday, it happened again. This time it is really stuck. I attempted to rock the car in gear, nope. I removed the front lower pan to gain access to the fan belt pulley hoping I could turn the engine with a socket just a little bit, nope. So I attempted to remove the starter again like I did before. But this time, the starter is locked in there solid. It is not budging. I cannot remove the starter from the engine block. So I am stuck. Help! John This message was edited by jyakel on 8-6-20 @ 5:19 AM carcrazy 08-05-2020 @ 9:29 AM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 1587 Joined: Oct 2009 It sounds like you have tried all of the obvious things. One additional thing you could try is to put the car in third gear, and with some friends to help you, manually push the car backwards. You may have to get the car rolling first with the clutch released and then once the car is rolling engage the clutch to try to get the engine to turn backwards to release the starter motor pinion gear from the flywheel ring gear. jyakel 08-05-2020 @ 10:16 AM reply profile send p.m. Member Posts: 79 Joined: Oct 2014 Carcrazy, Thanks. Your help is greatly appreciated. John jyakel 08-06-2020 @ 5:47 AM reply profile send p.m. Member Posts: 79 Joined: Oct 2014 Carcrazy, Okay, you are my hero! With my wife's help yesterday I attempted to unlock the starter as per your suggestion in your post above. IT WORKED! Thank you. It took three tries but on the third try I heard the welcomed 'bang' as the starter drive unit released from the flywheel. What a relief. So, I took the starter unit to our local starter/alternator shop. I am hoping he can tell me if there is anything wrong with the starter or the drive unit that would cause the starter to lock up as it did. I'm thinking maybe a slightly bent shaft, or a weak or broken Bendix spring, etc. etc. I don't know. All looked good to me as I gave it a visual inspection. And, one last thing, the flywheel looked good too. No broken teeth. Everything looked as it should. Any suggestions from fellow EFV8ers will be helpful. Thank you again Carcrazy! John cliftford 08-06-2020 @ 6:18 AM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 845 Joined: Jan 2014 There is probably nothing wrong with your starter except maybe some wear. Fords from model a's through the early 50s are famous for doing this. I never owned one that didn't do it at least once. 51504bat 08-06-2020 @ 6:52 AM reply profile send p.m. Member Posts: 233 Joined: Apr 2020 Probably not the case in your situation but one never knows. When I bought my '39 p/u with an 8ba the starter worked fine for several months and then it locked up. I was able to free it by rocking the truck until one day it would pop free, I had to remove the starter. I finally checked the starter plate and determined it wasn't the correct one. I installed the correct plate and that for the most part solved the problem. But for whatever reason once in a blue moon it sticks and I have the rock the truck to get the starter to pop loose. ______________ No signature TomO 08-06-2020 @ 7:35 AM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 7243 Joined: Oct 2009 You are probably missing the bracket that holds the back of the starter in place. It connects from one of the starter bolts to an oil pan bolt. It's P/N is 8A-1140. I don't know if it is being reproduced like the 39-48 one. Tom jyakel 08-06-2020 @ 8:50 AM reply profile send p.m. Member Posts: 79 Joined: Oct 2014 Tom O, 51504bat, Cliftford, Thanks guys. Every little bit helps. Greatly appreciated. And Tom O, no I don't have that starter to oil pan bracket on my car. But I am ordering one today. I hope that will be the golden ticket that will eliminate the starter locking up problem. Thanks everyone, John OLDTMR 08-06-2020 @ 1:43 PM reply profile send p.m. Member Posts: 45 Joined: Dec 2010 Brings back memories, I had a 57 Ford custom 300 that I loved and occasionally that starter would lock up. My solution was to loosen the starter and inserting a thin washer between the housing and starter. That worked pretty well for some time. I traded the car up for a 64 BelAir hardtop and the salesman called a few days later and asked if I ever had trouble with the starter locking up ? I really could not remember it happening maybe a time or two ! jyakel 08-07-2020 @ 5:42 AM reply profile send p.m. Member Posts: 79 Joined: Oct 2014 OLDTMR, Thanks for your input and sharing your experience. It is helpful to me to know that starters locking up on old Fords has happen to other Ford owners. As stated above, I ordered the starter to oil pan bracket from Mid-West Ford in Ohio that Tom O suggested. I hope installing that bracket will be the end of my starter lock up problems. John

<< previous || next >>

PAGE: 1 2

NOTE: YOU MUST BE A REGISTERED USER AND BE LOGGED IN TO POST (and reply to) messages in this forum. If you are a first time user, please click the CREATE A NEW ACCOUNT in the masthead above to register and Log In. After that, all you do is LOG IN to enjoy using this site.

DISCLAIMER: The V-8 Club does no independent testing of any of the opinions, thoughts or suggestions presented in the website on the Forum, in the Tech Tips section, or any section. A reader should consider the website to be a forum wherein differing solutions to a particular set of circumstances may be discussed. Ultimately, the selection of an item for an individual's vehicle must be based upon the independent study of the vehicle owner in consultation with people in the hobby and restoration experts.

EFV-8 Club Forum Home | Back to Home Page | Contact the Webmaster

Copyright © 2009 - EFV-8.org
Powered by < CF FORUM > v.2.1