If the starter has oil on it, and has been getting oil on it in the past, replace it, oil just kills the starter. I had an old Chev 2.8l motor that had leaky vavle cover gaskets on the front, and it dripped all over the starter, went through one every 4-6 months (I had a free supply of them from a friend in the wrecker business) It would do just that, start really dragging and turning over slower and slower, then finaly not start at all. Got down to changing one in about 10 min ;)
~Brian
Two common wear problems with start motors: 1) Brushes and commutator wear such that they provide increased resistance to current flow. 2) shaft bushings wear, even to the point that the armature is not fully supported by the bearings, and drags against the I.D. of the stator frame. Both are normal, and it sounds as if your starter needs to be rebuilt or replaced. I agree with you that the relative positions of start motor and oil filter are stupidly arranged on the Ford 3 liter V6. But I've also had two vehicles with that engine in which the start motors lasted over 100k miles. BTW, don't hold the switch in the "start" position for "a minute or so" on ANY engine. Start motors are designed for intermittent operation. (As in, say 15 to 20 SECONDS of use at a time, with a cooling period between attempts).
My 1996 Taurus has developed a problem with the starter motor. The starter drags and cannot start the car when warm. When the car is cold, no problem, but when warm, the starter drags.
The first time this happened, I had a tow truck come out to jump start the car, but it still would just drag and not turn the engine. Based on this, I have ruled out battery problems. The car was towed to the dealer where I have most of my work done on it, but when they tried to start the car - after it was sitting there over the weekend - they said the starter works with no problems indicated;bull, the tow truck driver said it was the starter that was the problem. One test the driver did was to have me hold the ignition switch in the start position for a minute or so and when he did, the starter became so hot as to have smoke comming off of it - he said this was from oil that had accumulated on the starter (it is just under the oil filter).
I am assuming this is a starter problem and it needs to be replaced. Is there anything else that I should look for to solve the problem?
-Cork
I had the car towed for the second time, this time to a small family run shop that my dad used to use on his cars years ago. They agreed that the starter needed replacing after they checked the car. The car was towed in @
1:45PM today and they called that the new starter was in and the car was ready to go @ about 4:00PM. I think that the dealer has lost my business for most repairs.My car had just rolled over 100k about a month ago, so I guess it was just the starter's time.
Thanks to you and Brian for your replies.
-Cork
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