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starter/hard cranking problem

6455 Views 9 Replies 5 Participants Last post by  tx460bronco
Ok, so here is the problem. When my truck is cold, the engine cranks right over and fires. Once I drive it and the whole thing gets warm, I turn the truck off and when trying to crank it back over, the starter seems to have the hardest time with it, just kinda turning the engine barely. Once I let it cool down for a while , it cranks over right away.

The battery is strong ( over 1000A cranking), just put a new cable from battery to solenoid. so I'm thinking it is the starter, getting heat soaked maybe or it just needs a new one, maybe a high torque starter. My engine is a '89 460, converted to carb, higher compression, cam.

Any thoughts on what it might be?
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I had the same problems as you and I had to go with a high torque starter. I bought a rebuilt OEM first and it worked for a couple of months and it died so I went ahead and sprung for the high torque one and the problem went away. I think heat soak is an issue because the header pipes run underneath it.
So, what starter do you have?
thanks, i'll look into the high torque starters
A starter from a stock 1995-1997 460 F250 will do a 600" 14.5/1 engine.........that's the deal.
A starter from a stock 1995-1997 460 F250 will do a 600" 14.5/1 engine.........that's the deal.
Agreed. And they cost less than the $200.00 I spent.
Where do you have your timing set?
Tom
Make sure you have a Very Good & Large (#2 or larger) wire running from your starter solenoid to the starter. To see if this will help you situation, just add a second wire going between the two for now. I actually have two #2 wires running on mine which resolved this same issue on my truck. Oh …. I’m running the standard factory starter (for my year model) as well.

p.s. - Check and make sure your grounds are good. I personally don't thing that you could have too many good grounds. :D
I look into that. I was mostly thinking it's the starter bc it starts very easily when cold, just when the truck is warm it has a very hard time with it cranking. The starter is as old as the motor, '89, so i figured, maybe the mud and such has finally gotten to it
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