Tick Bryan

I had posted earlier about my starter and solved the problem with replacing the corroided cables. But to my surprise a couple of months later, same problem. The bendix was stuck again!
I broke down and asked a mechanic friend of mine and he called some buddies at Ford. They said it was the fly wheel. When I start the truck the bendix is hitting a bad spot on the fly wheel, stressing the starter and causing the solenoid on the fender wall to stick. He proved this when he hit the solenoid with a screw driver and the starter bendix retracted and the noise stopped. So I had the flywheel replaced and guess what? No more sticking starter. I suggest when this happens again to you, open the hood and tap the solenoid with the handle part of the screwdriver and more than likely that will answer your question. Thanks!

Tick Bryan

After that long explanation of my solution to that stuck bendix problem, I WAS WRONG!! It was the flywheel that was causing the stuck bendix and making that grinding noise. I had the flywheel replaced and no more problems. That was back in November 2012, so I'm sure it's fixed now. The solution came from my mechanic and he contacted some friends at Ford that told him it was a common problem. The flywheel had a tooth missing and when the starter would hit that missing tooth the bendix would stick and burn up the starter. He told me if I would hit the solinoid the starter would retract, and it did. When the starter teeth would hit the missing flywheel tooth it would bind the starter and over energize the solinoid causing it to stick. By hitting the solinoid,(located on the inside fender well passenger side) it would free up the sticking and turn the bendix loose.