Quote:
Originally Posted by Excaliber
Well they are a couple of things that could have happened. The Powermaster starters are known to have a weak starter drive and they don't tolerate being messed with. The starter drives are also no repairable, you can't buy that part, have to replace the whole starter. I really don't like Power Master starters because of that. The good news, it's very likely you don't even need a special starter. The OEM Ford starters are really good and work well, even with high compression engines. I was running a Ford OEM starter on my 12.5 to 1 compression ratio 427, no problem. If you suspect the Power Master is bad, just buy the best quality Ford OEM starter from NAPA (50-60 bucks) and try that first, before you drop $250 on another fancy starter you don't really need.
Now another thing that could have happened is the starter ate the teeth on the flywheel. If so, thats real bad news, gotta pull the trans to get to the flywheel to have the ring gear replaced by a machine shop.
From your description it sounds like the starter it TRYING to engage and turn the motor, but the motor don't turn. Most likely you've wiped out the starter gear internal clutch on the starter. The starter gear will FEEL and LOOK fine, on the bench, it will fail when placed under heavy load, like cranking the engine. Thats my best guess!
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Here's the problem with rebuilt OEM starters...
All FE starters were not created equal by FORD, even though they all pretty much fit any FE. The critical difference is the starter's windings, both stator and armature. Let's take a 352 and a 427 for instance. They both fit a multitude of applications but the 352's windings are smaller, hence reduced starting torque comparative to the 427's. Once these starter's make it into the various rebuilding arenas they lose their original application identity. The rebuilding process in a lot of cases doesn't replace those windings. So.... when you buy that rebuilt 427 starter chances are you are not getting a rebuilt 427 starter. When you think how many 427s were made compared to the "lesser" FEs the chances of getting the right starter is greatly diminished.
It will be a new gear reduction starter IN ALL CASES for me...