My stupid ass.. Should i replace the starter?

Blau

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Left my keys in the ignition over night on new years eve. Totally emptied out the battery. Wasnt able to recharge it for a week :(. Many hours of charging it later, she starts again, but roughly, with metallic sounding bangs from the starter. I believe i damaged the thing trying to start the car without enough battery to fully engage the starter. Should i leave it be, or replace it asap? Im afraid it may damage the flywheel or something else. In other news, my water temp gauge jumps to 235 after only seconds on the road. Thinking the thermostat might have gone.. Gonna troubleshoot that when i get the chance.

Update: I decided to let the car heat up to 250ish this morning, and a small amount of steam started coming out of the connection point of the top of my radiator and the same coolant line that the thermostat is in. I took out the thermostat, popped it in a pot of boiling water, and it opened fine. Couldn't find anything wrong with my gauge wiring. That small amount of steam or smoke or whatever it was leads me to believe that the car is heating up to what the gauge says it is. I'm thinking that somehow my coolant isn't circulating. Does anyone have any thoughts? I'm not sure what to check out next.
 

whiplash473

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You won't damage the starter from trying to run it with a dead battery but there may be another problem with it. How do you know it came from the starter? Something like that is hard to pin-point when you're sitting in the car. The temperature issue sounds almost more of a gauge cluster issue than your termostat. There's no way engine coolant gets to 235 within seconds on the road, even in the summer months. 235* temps are also damaging (FYI), so If you'd like to replace the thermostat then I'd say go for it because it's a simple, cheap fix.
 

toyman

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BTW, 235*F isn't going to damage anything. I'm not suggesting you ignore temps in that range as that is 25-30*F higher than it should be. FWIW the factory high fan signal is 230*F. I suspect it's the cluster ground or perhaps the main battery to engine and engine to chassis grounds causing those readings.
 

mcglsr2

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I second that the 235* isn't damaging. I've seen it on the track. Is it hot? You bet. It is good for a street driven Mustang to be at 235* constantly? No - it usually means something else is wrong. So from that perspective, Whiplash is right, you really don't want to be seeing 235* on the street.
 

whiplash473

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BTW, 235*F isn't going to damage anything. I'm not suggesting you ignore temps in that range as that is 25-30*F higher than it should be. FWIW the factory high fan signal is 230*F. I suspect it's the cluster ground or perhaps the main battery to engine and engine to chassis grounds causing those readings.

I second that the 235* isn't damaging. I've seen it on the track. Is it hot? You bet. It is good for a street driven Mustang to be at 235* constantly? No - it usually means something else is wrong. So from that perspective, Whiplash is right, you really don't want to be seeing 235* on the street.

I realized I was thinking of something I saw on the truck forum I'm on.
 
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Blau

Blau

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You won't damage the starter from trying to run it with a dead battery but there may be another problem with it. How do you know it came from the starter? Something like that is hard to pin-point when you're sitting in the car. The temperature issue sounds almost more of a gauge cluster issue than your termostat. There's no way engine coolant gets to 235 within seconds on the road, even in the summer months. 235* temps are also damaging (FYI), so If you'd like to replace the thermostat then I'd say go for it because it's a simple, cheap fix.
I'm figuring it's the starter because the noise is coming from what seems like the foot-area of my passenger side, right where the starter is, and the banging only takes place with the key turned.
 
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Blau

Blau

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Update: I decided to let the car heat up to 250ish this morning, and a small amount of steam started coming out of the connection point of the top of my radiator and the same coolant line that the thermostat is in. I took out the thermostat, popped it in a pot of boiling water, and it opened fine. Couldn't find anything wrong with my gauge wiring. That small amount of steam or smoke or whatever it was leads me to believe that the car is heating up to what the gauge says it is. I'm thinking that somehow my coolant isn't circulating. Does anyone have any thoughts? I'm not sure what to check out next.
 
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Blau

Blau

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I just read that without the thermostat, that line should be hard with the car running. I hooked everything back up without the thermo, and warmed up the car. The coolant was leaking from where the thermo was (don't have a fresh gasket yet) at a steady rate... Wasn't too much. The line did not harden though. Not sure if I can make anything of that. Gonna get a gasket and try again.
 

Addermk2

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Stop being cheap, before you hurt your engine. Buy a new water pump.
 

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