Lubricating starter motor?

Ford Escort 1.9L automatic, year-old replacement starter bought brand new

My starter briefly grinds slightly when the key is released and the engine is cold, especially when the weather is below 80-90F. It's done this since new, and the grinding isn't getting worse. I've tried moving the starter around, including the addition of washers approx. .025" thick to shim it (since removed), but nothing changed.

Could this starter have been inadequately lubed? Should I just grease the throw-out fork (if there is one) and the drive pinion (the one that goes intot he overrun clutch, not the pinion that goes against the flywheel gear)?

I know that I should have exchanged it soon after purchase, but now all they'll give me is a rebuilt, and I don't want to risk that because it's from Pep Boys, and the original was brand new, not a rebuilt.

Reply to
larrymoencurly
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*really* brand new? That's quite rare...or "Remanufactured" new?

Dry oilite bushing.

There is, but you'll have to disassemble the starter entirely to get to it and it's not causing your noise.

This also is not causing your noise.

Pep Boys does not sell brand new starters. You got what everyone else gets who buys rotating electrics at Pep Boys: a "remanufactured" piece of junk.

DS

Reply to
Daniel J. Stern

Hello,

I have the same problem on a different vehicle. Where would I find the oilite bushing?

Reply to
Scott

While I haven't taken the starter apart yet (I did take dissassemble the factory original partially -- shorted), I'm confused how this could cause a gear grinding sound because I don't think any bushings slide in this starter.

They wanted $20 less for a lifetime rebuilt, and the starter I got didn't have the usual scratches or dents I've seen on rebuilt alternators and brake parts, even sandblasted and painted parts, and I wouldn't have bought a rebuilt from them but would have waited the next day to get one from NAPA or a Ford dealer. The Pep Boys receipt said "NEW PGMR STARTER", #7-69035-51002, $159.99.

Reply to
larrymoencurly

It sounds like a gear grinding sound, but it's actually the shaft vibrating in a dry and/or overspec bushing. It's common in this starter design when they get some years/miles on them and when they're indifferently rebuilt. You don't hear it when the starter is engaged because cranking puts considerable sideloads on every shaft/bushing junction in the starter -- it's only when it's free-spinning down that you hear it, because there are no sideloads.

Every piece of that starter is availble new, including housings, from "offshore" (Chinese) foundries. If you don't care about machining quality or tolerance, well, hey!

DS

Reply to
Daniel J. Stern

Oilite is a tradename used to identify bushings made from sintered (powdered and then formed) bronze. The spaces between the bronze particles hold oil. When a shaft turns in such a bushing, capillary action draws the oil to the shaft/bushing junction surface, providing lubrication. All of this is contingent upon the bushing having been properly oiled during or after manufacture. The correct procedure involves soaking the bushings in hot oil for a period of time, then letting them cool, draining/wiping off the excess oil, and *then* using them. This, however, is messy and few manufacturers do it any more, so it's down to the end user. In the real world, a liberal application of appropriate oil (I like to use Mobil-1

10W30) during unit assembly is usually plenty good enough without all the heating up and such. But a lot of the reman shops just put a dab of grease in the bushing. This works OK as long as the grease lives, but it effectively converts the clever Oilite bushing into a plain ordinary bushing that requires periodic relubrication.

If you're up for it, take apart your starter and apply oil to the bushings. If not, just leave it be-- the noise is annoying, but it'll keep making it for a long time.

DS

Reply to
Daniel J. Stern

Just for the record, remanufactured is not necessarily junk. Years ago, when I was just a young motorhead, we rebuilt everything. Starters, alternators, pumps, every thing. Now, we just replace them with either new or rebuilt parts. No body rebuilds stuff on his own bench any more. Modular swaps are the norm and they usually work out better for the consumer by saving both time and money. Nine times out of ten remanufactured is just fine provided it comes from an established rebuild. The blanket "it's crap" assessment is emotional but not very accurate. You are correct in that when it began making noise you should have returned it. Don't beat yourself up thinking if you had only installed a new part....The truth is, new parts fail at almost the same rate as reconditioned parts. Otherwise, we would buy new cars and never have to use the warranty.

Reply to
Reece Talley

I've been supremely lucky in buying rebuilts from my local parts stores. the basic Chevy starter has been lasting me 10 years. Two years ago I bought one for $38, which was the lowest price in a long time. And I do lots of starting. Usually it's just the solenoid that goes on me.

Reply to
WasteNotWantNot

Most times reman'd parts have same or better warranties than new, at half the price. I *always* buy reman'd over new. I used to drive a little mazda mx-6.. alternator went out. only place to get ANY parts for it was the mazda dealership. New one was over $300.00 with a 1yr warranty, reman'd one was about 90.00 with a lifetime warranty. Same with CV joints.. Autozone had both new and reman'd.. again, for a pair (inside and outside, NOT left and right.)of cv joints, new over $189ea., reman'd just under $70.00, both had a 3yr warranty. (They also had a lifetime reman'd around $150.00)

Chuck

Reply to
Zex0s

I'll take my quality in the part itself, not in the frilly piece of paper printed with "LIFETIME WARRANTY". If the starter (alternator, whatever) is built correctly, the warranty isn't needed. I would rather not spend my LIFETIME replacing crappy remanufactured garbage under WARRANTY -- I'd rather be doing better things with my time.

DS

Reply to
Daniel J. Stern

paint it blue and call it new. sadly this is typical to find. but as the original qquestion, no, you cannot lubricate a starter motor. i'd say exchange the one you got and pray you get the 1:3 that works right. or go buy an OE if you've got money out the wazoo :) pray it's not as difficult as putting a starter in an LX470 (you have to take off the intake)

Reply to
MudPuppy1976

Pfft. OK, let me rephrase for you: I've been repairing and maintaining motor vehicles for close to twenty years, and virtually every time I've bought a remanufactured rotating electrical part (starter, alternator, generator), distributor, carburetor, brake master cylinder, water or air pump, it's been an indifferently thrown together piece of shit that has neither worked nor lasted acceptably. This is across seven US states and one Canadian province, at virtually every common parts source.

IMO, Rebuilds are great. Factory reman is junk. YMMV.

DS

Reply to
Daniel J. Stern

I have to second this considering the 'reman' distributor problems I had. The second one I got, combined with parts from my orginal yielded one good working distributor. Plus I had to sand a part smooth for it to work. (to transfer the original would have been more work requiring complete disassembly of the reman)

As far as the alternator and starter on that car I bought new parts to replace what was going bad and repaired them myself. Much better to rebuild one's own components if possible.

Reply to
Brent P

Of course not. But everything that you buy "remanufactured" from Schlep Boys, AutoBone, and the like is most certainly junk. And even that wasn't always true. I recently removed a rebuilt starter that I bought at CarQuest sometime around 1981. But as with so many things, bean-counters prevailed over technical people and cheaper mass-production methods were applied to rebuilding starters.

And since the market is no longer there, its hard to even buy the needed parts to do a rebuild yourself assuming you're willing to do it. Unless you have a local electric motor/starter/alternator shop that is willing to sell you parts wholesale (fortunately, I do :-)

But a part rebuilt by, for example, a locally owned low-volume auto electric shop will probably last a very long time. I always advise people to go that route and many are put off by the fact that the local shop offers a 90-day warranty and AutoBone offers a "lifetime" warranty. I just tell them "Fine, if you want to spend the rest of your 'lifetime' bolting and unbolting an endless string of crappily put-together starters, then be my guest... because that is PRECISELY what an AutoBone 'lifetime' warranty means."

Reply to
Steve

"MudPuppy1976

Reply to
larrymoencurly

You bought a piece of Chinese garbage from Pep Boys.

That's the category of parts, not the name of the company.

DS

Reply to
Daniel J. Stern

chances are if no one has heard of it, it's not a good company to deal with

Reply to
MudPuppy1976

That's the name they gave me when I phoned them at 1-800-877-3361.

Reply to
larrymoencurly

Well, whatever. I don't spend much time keeping track of the marketers of knockoff crapola imitation parts, new or otherwise.

DS

Reply to
Daniel J. Stern

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