I have a 95 f150 with a 4.9L inline 6. I have replaced everything that has to do with starting the truck. The spark plugs, wires, distributor cap, rotor, ignition module, and starter. When the motor is cold and I go to start it in the morning, it let's out a "screaming" sound from the starter area and hesitates a little bit to start but it does start. Replaced the starter with a new one and it quit for a few days but has started with the noise again. My mechanic friend and myself have no clue what could be causing this noise. Any help would be appreciated.

 

The mechanic should recognize a bad or severely worn flywheel or ring gear. Without a recording, that would be my first guess.

 

poorly shimmed starter?

 

X2 without hearing the sound, that would be my guess too. If it was a poorly shimmed starter I would think it would be consistent with the new starter he put in. He said it did not do it for a few days.

 

With a worn flywheel, wouldn't there be a grinding noise? Or is that only if the teeth on the flywheel are bad?

 

why don't you take the bottom cover off the transmission and do a couple starts with someone watching the starter and flywheel. and spin the flywheel around while checking the teeth. maybe try checking the torque on the torque converter to fly wheel bolts. has the transmission been replaced since you owned it or before ownership? worth crawling under with a wrench and rechecking all the bolts attaching transmission to engine. I had a 02 silverado in the shop with a intermittent starter squeal. had to replace the starter and re shim it to acquire smooth operation and torque the transmission bolts due to shotty work done on it prior. If the transmission has been replaced at some point i would definitely question the mating of the torque converter to flywheel there could be a possible slight misalignment of the bolting surface causing a slight wobble.

 

After the truck starts it is fine. It will start up the rest of the day with no problems. It seems the only time it is a problem is in the morning when I first start the truck. I have started it after it has sat all day at work and no problems.

 

Verify if it's actually the starter making the noise. Get a mechanics stethoscope and use it on the starter and around the area.

It almost sounds like the engine is extremely hard to crank when cold and is putting a lot of stress on the starter. To test that, you need to see how many amps the starter is drawing when cold compared to hot.

 

If he is talking about the truck in his sig he wont have a torque converter