Crappy Oreilly Rebuilt Starters

[farmersammm]

Replaced the starter on the 1 ton a few days back.......think it was maybe a week ago. It sounded like crap when it worked........grinding. Started the truck, and I need the truck.... I figured that it might be normal for a rebuilt, or maybe it was a reduction starter. Hell..........I dunno.

Today, OF ALL F'N DAYS, it just ground, and didn't engage the flywheel.







I looked for the broken pieces in the bell housing, and couldn't find a thing............I mean nothing!

I'm thinking it was broken before I put it in, or at least cracked. I didn't look at it when I installed it. Or the bearing seized, and the torque ruined it.

Today was almost 60*, and tomorrow is supposed to get down in the 20's, so I pulled it out before the weather set in. I hate the cold.

[farmersammm]

So, I'm thinking the flywheel might be ruined. I don't have it in me to do a major teardown just now.







I'm thinking I might have dodged the bullet. Doesn't appear to have any badly damaged teeth, just a bit scarred. The clutch is at least 14yrs old(dating from when I bought the truck, not actual age), and it's getting funky........the throwout bearing is getting real noisy. I figure it's a replacement job in the future, but not now. If I replace the clutch, it's an automatic new flywheel. Nobody grinds flywheels anymore I guess............it's a replacement job these days. Buy a new one along with the new clutch. Crazy.

[tapwelder]

I went through 6 or so oreilys starters in a couple years on an old f150. They would failed rapidly. Not engage or rough engage. It finally went away when I adjusted my timing.

There were a lot of attempted remedies that did not work. the srarter was getting excessively hot, too. Timing was what worked excessive heat went away.

At least I only paid once. Oreilys said they failed becaused.i did not use oem replacement bolts.

[Sberry]

Back in the day so many got in to it remans got really bad, had to change asnd quit buying them.. They they got a lot better and went 20 years without a faulty one, lately a new rash of junk not too long out of the box. Just had a fuel pump installed in July dump.

[bigb]

There's a lot of junk parts out there for sure, I went through some crap starters before I got smart and started to have them rebuilt at my local starter/alternator shop. As to the flywheel grinding, the way starters have to push the drive gear forward into the ring gear or flywheel while they are already spinning doesn't always work out so well. On the 7.3 it is not uncommon for them to grind, especially on certain spots of the ring gear where the engine normally comes to a stop. Mine does it occasionally and I have considered changing to a manually (electrically) operated solenoid to engage the drive gear fully before cranking (like the old days when there was a foot pedal to engage the gear except make it electric), a few guys have done it. Makes a good theft preventative measure as well.

[Sberry]

I fix a lot of starters and alts. They make reman, rebuilt and new. New has been better most of the time. If I can fix them I do, if they need every new part in them then replace.

[whtbaron]

I quit buying Dixie or Dixco rebuilts a few years back because they were so poor. Not sure if they ever improved their quality. I've had "reasonably" good luck with the Bosch stuff, but I did have the snout snap off one after a couple months. They started to tell me they didn't replace them for that because it was a sign they weren't being shimmed properly. Hello... it's a Ford... no shims. They replaced it and it's been working for years now.

[smithdoor]

I either rebuild the starter my self or buy new.
I got tired of reinstalling bad rebuilds.

Dave

Replaced the starter on the 1 ton a few days back.......think it was maybe a week ago. It sounded like crap when it worked........grinding. Started the truck, and I need the truck.... I figured that it might be normal for a rebuilt, or maybe it was a reduction starter. Hell..........I dunno.

Today, OF ALL F'N DAYS, it just ground, and didn't engage the flywheel.







I looked for the broken pieces in the bell housing, and couldn't find a thing............I mean nothing!

I'm thinking it was broken before I put it in, or at least cracked. I didn't look at it when I installed it. Or the bearing seized, and the torque ruined it.

Today was almost 60*, and tomorrow is supposed to get down in the 20's, so I pulled it out before the weather set in. I hate the cold.

[CAVEMANN]

I was working for NAPA over the summer of 73 after I graduated high school, I had a customer come for a starter for a GM vehicle, I pulled the starter off the shelf & brought it out to the counter & opened it up for the customer to look at, I gotta tell ya that it's embarassing as hell to open up what was supposed to be a rebuilt starter only to find a used starter or core that never got rebuilt. While working for the Ambulance I found a source for new alternators and starters for a fraction of what FORD charged for their remans, and there were no cores to mess with.

[smithdoor]

Maybe they just forgot to clean it before putting in box.

I found a lot of rebuilt auto part are half a#%%$ done.
I would never but rebult carb the pins wearout and the rebuilds never fix the problem just clean and new gaskets. Still bad carb but clean.

Dave

I was working for NAPA over the summer of 73 after I graduated high school, I had a customer come for a starter for a GM vehicle, I pulled the starter off the shelf & brought it out to the counter & opened it up for the customer to look at, I gotta tell ya that it's embarassing as hell to open up what was supposed to be a rebuilt starter only to find a used starter or core that never got rebuilt. While working for the Ambulance I found a source for new alternators and starters for a fraction of what FORD charged for their remans, and there were no cores to mess with.

[rexcormack]

Looks to me like the bushing in the nose is missing!

[farmersammm]

Looks to me like the bushing in the nose is missing!

Yeah, it's completely gone, along with most of the casting around it. Never did find any pieces in the bell housing.

[farmersammm]

They gave me another starter today. Guess it's lather, rinse, repeat

[rexcormack]

They gave me another starter today. Guess it's lather, rinse, repeat

Make sure they gave you one for standard transmission!
The the nose of the previous one looks like it was hitting flywheel teeth sometime in the past.
The starters are different between standard and automatic trans!
Since you said "It sounded like crap when it worked........grinding" my guess is the bushing wasn't there to begin with!

[farmersammm]

New starter works!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's not right........no cover on the bearing end,, but it works. Think I can make a little cap for the bearing. Pics later.

[farmersammm]

Judging by the end plate, the second starter is a genuine Ford core, not like the other. Engages smoothly, and just whirs as it turns the engine over. Nice.

But.............there's no nose cover to keep the bearing grease in the bearing, and dirt out. Need to pull it out, and make a cover out of plastic, and silicone it on the end. Simple little circle cut in stiff plastic ought to do. I believe there was supposed to be a cup pressed in as part of the bearing assembly. These remans are pure junk, but at least this one works.

[TomA]

I don't like O'Reilly's, order most everything from rock. Starter is heavy to ship plus I needed it now so I bought from O'Reilly's.
Been so long I can't remember, works fine.

[smithdoor]

I do buy from O'Reilly's but they buy rebuilt from third party's.
This where problem is for all retailers.
What we need is a good rebuilds not a rebuild cleaning. The parts are not tested under load.

Good luck
Dave

I don't like O'Reilly's, order most everything from rock. Starter is heavy to ship plus I needed it now so I bought from O'Reilly's.
Been so long I can't remember, works fine.

[bigb]

Judging by the end plate, the second starter is a genuine Ford core, not like the other. Engages smoothly, and just whirs as it turns the engine over. Nice.

But.............there's no nose cover to keep the bearing grease in the bearing, and dirt out. Need to pull it out, and make a cover out of plastic, and silicone it on the end. Simple little circle cut in stiff plastic ought to do. I believe there was supposed to be a cup pressed in as part of the bearing assembly. These remans are pure junk, but at least this one works.

Maybe or maybe not. This is my spare backup starter for my 7.3 I had rebuilt by my local starter exchange and it appears to be either a cover or a bushing/bearing that fits into the bell housing, It's been awhile since I changed it and I can't remember.

[William McCormick]

I went through 3 rebuilt master cylinders they were all DOA, none of them worked on my F-150 so I went to Ford and never had another issue. Fords prices are higher but their stuff is better.

Sincerely,

William McCormick

[12V71]

Awhile back I need an alternator for a 2017 GMC pickup. On a Saturday afternoon... Go to O'reillys, it lasted a month and a half, Needed a water pump for another one... 6 months. I no longer use their services.

[CAVEMANN]

All the Major parts stores, Carquest & NAPA especially have created a down line to compete with O'reillys and Autozoneand they're about the same quality, BUT even NAPA's ECHLIN line doesn't seem to be the quality it once was. ACCEL was part of ECHLIN & ECHLIN had high performance pignition parts that were identical to ACCEL, right down to the gold plated points & condensers, but were somewhat cheaper. We had access to all of ECLINS specs & could match parts numbers to verify.

[CAVEMANN]

I went through 3 rebuilt master cylinders they were all DOA, none of them worked on my F-150 so I went to Ford and never had another issue. Fords prices are higher but their stuff is better.

Sincerely,

William McCormick

I wouldn't use rebuilt brake parts for that reason. I tried a couple of different vendors for the 4R100 tranny's behind the 7.3 powerstrokes, Ford remans were the only ones that held up in the AMBOS. It's sad because I could have rebuilt the trannys but there was no time or room, I only had a one useable bay at the time, the other one had parts lockers and EMS sh1t in the way.

[smithdoor]

Still wear are Carquest & NAPA buying the rebuilt parts.
I think if retailer has give a 4 year warranty and replace part in the truck would fix the problems. They make certain the part was rebuilt and tested.

Dave

All the Major parts stores, Carquest & NAPA especially have created a down line to compete with O'reillys and Autozoneand they're about the same quality, BUT even NAPA's ECHLIN line doesn't seem to be the quality it once was. ACCEL was part of ECHLIN & ECHLIN had high performance pignition parts that were identical to ACCEL, right down to the gold plated points & condensers, but were somewhat cheaper. We had access to all of ECLINS specs & could match parts numbers to verify.

[tapwelder]

Took me years to get away from autozone because of the lifetime warranty...had to get a different vehicle.

Tough to justify spending more cash when you can replace one for no extra cost.

I know this one will be better... Autozone, here's your replacement... and repeat