Noisy starter

[Norain]

Hi all, One of my friends has a 428 FE in a 55 Thunderbird, neat car. When the starter drive engages and turns the engine over it makes a lot of noise, loud noise. After the engine starts and as the starter drive is disengagin there's a couple of loud clanks. This whole thing sounds very bad. Thanks for any thoughts. Cya, Jerry PS: Havin a great time with the Cobra!

[sideoiler10]

Definitely not normal. Possibly one or two teeth missing from the starter drive gear, starter bearings shot and making noise, or hopefully not...missing teeth on the flywheel or the flexplate if it is an automatic. It is probably within the starter itself. Pull it and take it to O'reillys, Autozone, etc. and they will test it on their machine to see if it makes the same noise there. You didn't indicate how old the starter was, or the engine either. Considering the relatively low cost of a replacement starter and drive, I would probably just replace the entire thing so as to avoid messing around trying to decide it it is the drive gear, bearings, etc.

What kind of noise is it? Does it just grind continually or does it sound like it rotates, then skips and rotates again? After you pull it, examine the teeth on the drive to check the wear pattern and to see if it is still good.

When did the noise start? If it was working fine before and just now is making noise, replace it for a hundred bucks or so and be done with it.