My son owns a 1968 Ford Galaxie, 2-door with 302 V-8 and he has replaced THREE starters in the last 3 months! All are rebuilt starters from Kragen with lifetime guarantees: “the best” that they sell. Several mechanics have told me that rebuilt starters are “junk” but that “you can’t buy brand-new ones from Ford for your Galaxie”. What to do? A buddy suggested having the local auto electric shop rebuild the existing starter, instead of returning it (for the FOURTH time) to Kragen. So, What should we do? Keep going back to Kragen until we get a “good” starter? Or have the existing starter rebuilt? Or is there another option?
How does it fail? Does it break the nose piece, strip the bendix, toast the field pieces? Maybe it’s not the starter that’s failing.
I had a '67 Mustang, 289 V8 from '67 to '78. I kept a new starter in the trunk and about every 2 years (sometimes less) I needed to replace the starter. The issue was the bolt where you connect the wire. It apparently isn’t very robust and can break inside the case of the starter.
Be careful when you install the new ones not to over tighten the bolt. The starters just aren’t very robust, eventually you’ll get one that will last.
Last time it happened to me was 30 years ago. Turned out to be a warped flywheel…Good ol Chryco.