GTXJosh
Junior Member
I’ve had my 2009 5.7 for about 1.5years at this point. Always starts but the starter has been very very slow to crank, especially when heat soaked. I used to do a remote start when leaving the truck for a few minutes to keep the ac going, but it cranks so slow hot I stopped doing that about a year ago. Replaced the battery, no change.
Ok down to the starter replacement. Went with the OEM brand since it was about the same price as all the aftermarket parts store stuff, and cheaper than some. 2 year warranty didn’t bother me much since this original appears to have lasted about 15 years.
I watched a few YouTube videos to see if it was as easy as it looks. I have a 4x4 with a 4” RCX lift so not sure if that makes a difference. Many videos showed people removing a bracket to access the lower starter bolt, and I just didn’t see that was needed. Some videos showed it not being removed. Well, in my case, it was super easy to get to the lower bolt. No bracket removal needed. Just put a 15mm deep socket on it and came right off. In fact it was harder to reach up to the upper bolt for removing it than the lower bolt.
Collect tool, including both normal and deep sockets and wrenches in the 10mm, 13mm, and 15mm sizes needed as well as a few different ratchets. I prefer not taking sockets off and on when possible and have enough tools to make that work out. 2 of my ratchets have a flex head. Also got a couple of 4” drive extensions and a 3/8 swivel. Cardboard to slide under on and a few paper towels to keep clean.
Pop hood disconnect battery. 5min max to unbolt old starter after a wipe down of the little dirt and grime in the area working in. Deep socket fit right on, then just changed to my stubby flex head ratchet to spin off the nut. I think this was faster than pulling out the air ratchet- even as much as I like to use air tools. A few minutes to clean up the 13mm nut that mounts the positive cable to starter. Everything bolted right back in as fast as it came out. Not counting getting stuff ready and clean up, maybe 15-20min of actual wrenching.
So long story short. The reason for my wow. Wow, that was easy. And also, wow my old starter was really really bad. I never knew as it had always cranked a little slow. But now cycles over about 5 times faster than I’ve ever heard. I did an Amazon order for the part just in case I pulled and saw just a really bad connection or something but old stuff clean, it was certainly a worn out starter.
Ok down to the starter replacement. Went with the OEM brand since it was about the same price as all the aftermarket parts store stuff, and cheaper than some. 2 year warranty didn’t bother me much since this original appears to have lasted about 15 years.
I watched a few YouTube videos to see if it was as easy as it looks. I have a 4x4 with a 4” RCX lift so not sure if that makes a difference. Many videos showed people removing a bracket to access the lower starter bolt, and I just didn’t see that was needed. Some videos showed it not being removed. Well, in my case, it was super easy to get to the lower bolt. No bracket removal needed. Just put a 15mm deep socket on it and came right off. In fact it was harder to reach up to the upper bolt for removing it than the lower bolt.
Collect tool, including both normal and deep sockets and wrenches in the 10mm, 13mm, and 15mm sizes needed as well as a few different ratchets. I prefer not taking sockets off and on when possible and have enough tools to make that work out. 2 of my ratchets have a flex head. Also got a couple of 4” drive extensions and a 3/8 swivel. Cardboard to slide under on and a few paper towels to keep clean.
Pop hood disconnect battery. 5min max to unbolt old starter after a wipe down of the little dirt and grime in the area working in. Deep socket fit right on, then just changed to my stubby flex head ratchet to spin off the nut. I think this was faster than pulling out the air ratchet- even as much as I like to use air tools. A few minutes to clean up the 13mm nut that mounts the positive cable to starter. Everything bolted right back in as fast as it came out. Not counting getting stuff ready and clean up, maybe 15-20min of actual wrenching.
So long story short. The reason for my wow. Wow, that was easy. And also, wow my old starter was really really bad. I never knew as it had always cranked a little slow. But now cycles over about 5 times faster than I’ve ever heard. I did an Amazon order for the part just in case I pulled and saw just a really bad connection or something but old stuff clean, it was certainly a worn out starter.