Flywheel question.

[ddrumman2004]

I own a 97 Ford F-150 Lariat with a 4.6 v8 and auto transmission. I bought the truck "used" just over 4 years ago, in 2001. About a month after I bought it, the starter made a grinding noise like there was a bad spot on the flywheel. But turning the key off and back on, the starter engaged normally. This has happened several times over the 4 year period but seems to be getting worse. I took it to the Ford dealer and a mechanic there heard the noise and told me it needed a new flywheel at the tune of 350 to 400 bucks.
My question is this....Could this flywheel come from the factory with the teeth not hardened properly?

I also own a 86 F150 4x4 and back last summer, the starter relay froze closed and the starter locked the engine up and stalled the truck. When i removed that starter, all the teeth on the bendix gear were ground off with no damage to the ring gear on the flywheel.

Hopefully the truck can go in the shop next week but I wonder how in 9 years that a flywheel can go bad, even with the original Ford starter?

 

[Matt_S]

Has the starter actually been removed to verify this diagnosis? If not, I'd suggest it's more likely that either the teeth on the starter are getting worn or that the solenoid isn't engaging properly.

 

[Handy CJ]

I had an 81' F150 and had nearly the same problem. Amazingly it was not the starter gear teeth, but rather the flywheel gear teeth...I inspected the flywheel myself and removed it. I bought a new ring w/ of course new teeth and had it pressed on by a shop...reinstalled it and it started great... perhaps this was a systemic problem w/ the hardness of the flywheel ring gear teeth. The new ring only set me back about 35 bucks.