I just thought I would post on this topic as a lot of people seem to have this problem. If your starter is making a grinding noise when you try to start and sometimes is tough to start the car and it only starts on several attempts...you likely have a flywheel/starter problem that involves major repair. What happens is the design of the flywheel is poor with bad meshing teeth that are to soft and tend to get chewed off. Ford has an improved flywheel with chamferred edges that provide better engagement to the starter. You can make an inspection two ways, one by removing the access cover for the torque converter bolts on the bottom of the engine, or by removing the starter and inspecting the flywheel through one of these openings. You have to look very close at the teeth on the flywheel as you have someone hand crank the engine on the crankshaft bolt at the front of the engine...turn it slowly, and inspect the teeth with good lighting. You have two ways to do this job...you can pull the engine out, or pull the tranny out. I think I did it the hard way, but thats just me! I pulled the tranny...to do this the subframe has to come out first.It is fun to get out...mine the cage nuts for the rear sub frame bolts were siezed and just spun. Then you have to go into the interior of the car and remove the front floor carpet and some black hard backing insulation to access the nuts to the sub frame bolts rear mount. There is a grate in the floor you cut, then just screw a cover over it later when your done. All engine and tranny mounts have to be removed, and the engine has to be held with a lift or cherry picker. The tranny is unbolted and lowered together with the engine. I had a modified floor jack with a square plate bolted to the top of it to support the tranny. You then have to lower both the engine and tranny until the AC compressor is below the chassis, before you have enough room to seperate them. Once you get that far you can leave the tranny on the jack, pull it back far enough from the engine and remove the flywheel. It is a ton of work this way...but if I did it again it would be no problem. One little tip to anyone who has to remove the subframe. Leave the steering gear connected...unbolt the bolts to subframe and remove the gears top cover from above in the engine compartment at the back close to the firewall. Those nuts on the bottom are welded and the bolts are threaded from the top. If you use some extensions coupled together you can get them all from the top. The haynes manual explains every step for the tranny removal so just follow it close, step by step. It might be easier to pull the engine...but I never did it that way. Expect to pay about $1500 - $2000 Canadian by the time your done if you take it to a shop.Anyone who says they can get it done cheaper should get it in writing...because I know you will get tacked with extra this and thats. Hope this helps anyone who needs to do this job.
