2003 Ford F-150 5.4L - Terrible noise after used starter was put on

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General Information:

The customer came in because of a no start situation. I diagnosed it as a starter issue. They decided they wanted to find a used starter and put it on themselves. After they installed a new starter, it started fine, but was making a terrible grinding noise. It’s not wrong for them to want to do that if it can save some money, but you’ll see from the rest of the story why I do not recommend it.

First Thoughts:

At least it’s starts now!
It’s possible they put on a defective or wrong used starter or something else could be grinding, possibility from the drive belt area.

Diagnostics:

I ruled out the drive belt area. The noise was still present even with the belt off.*

*Just let a professional run the car with the belt off, it can cause damage to the vehicle if not done correctly.

I placed the vehicle on a lift and let it run while I located the noise.

The noise was right where the engine and transmission meet. I had a strong feeling they put the wrong starter on.

I took the starter off and yep, it was scrubbing pretty hard on the flywheel.

I had to check all the teeth on the flywheel. It’s possible that it could have damaged or broke off some of the teeth.

To check the teeth in the flywheel, you have to manually spin the crankshaft and check all the teeth. All the teeth were still in this flywheel. You can see where the starter they installed was hitting the flywheel.

The next step was to put a new starter on.

To compare it to the starter I took off, you can see that the front of it is just a little bit shorter. Everything else looks almost the same except for that part.

I installed the starter and it worked like a charm. No terrible grinding noise.

It’s fine that a customer wants to save money by doing it themselves, but A few things they lose are:

1. Confidence that it is the correct part

2. A warranty of the part, if it’s a new part

3. Money, if they get it wrong

4. Time, if they get it wrong

5. Many more things

You can explain to a customer that by letting you do the job, you can save them time and money.

This problem could have been easily prevented with just a simple comparison of the old part and new part. If they look different, don’t put it on or let a professional look to see if it will work or not.

How do you get the right parts or your vehicle?

Use the VIN of your vehicle instead of the year, make, and model. It’s more accurate with the VIN.

Also, compare the old part to the new part to see if they are the same. Most of the time, they will be exactly the same. Other times, there might be an updated part that looks slightly different, at that point, ask a professional if it will still work for your vehicle.

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