1988 mustang gt

[Cello87]

I recently bought a 1988 gt about a month ago and the guy told me all it needed was a new solenoid and starter I bought both pieces. With me being a newb I had to find somebody else to install the starter. I got a guy to install it he had a few problems getting to the top bolt under the heads tight but we finally got it in. After a few days of turning over and running decent I tried starting it and noticed I couldn't push my key all the way in the ignition once I finally worked my key around and tried to start the car it made a weird sound like something was whirling around in it. It sounded pretty nasty so I haven't messed with it sense. I pushed on the starter from the top with my hand it didn't feel all the loose but I could be wrong if anyone out there could give me a couple pointers it would be highly appreciated

 

[84Ttop]

Could be a loose starter, could be a bad starter, could be a bad flex plate, hard to say. Pop the starter out and have it bench tested, inspect the flex plate and go from there.

On another note, welcome to stangnet and post pictures of the car or it doesn't exist, lol.

 

[Cello87]

Thxs man ima try and take it out myself u said it could be a bad flex plate? How about the flywheel I had a guy tell me this morning that could be my problem..on another more I also have a gear problem 2-4 shifts good..(haven't made it to 5 yet) but when I try and start out in first gear it grinds and then kicks outta gear does tht sound like I need a clutch replacement?

 

[FoxMustangLvr]

Welcome to Stangnet and the never ending world of tinkering/fixing our wonderful Mustang 5.0's.

First, never enlist another person to work on your stuff again. With as much work is needed with some of these vehicles you might as well dive in and learn to wrench. Then when it comes time to problem solve something you know first hand what you did and did not do. Don't be afraid to dig into it, there are a lot of smart people here to help you out if you can't find your answer using the search feature.

As far as your trans popping out of 1st and all others are fine your problem might be a bad syncro.

 

[84Ttop]

Flex plate, fly wheel same difference one for auto one for manual..

As far as the grinding, if it has an aftermarket shifter it is possible that it needs to be adjusted or it may be a problem with the gear box itself. I would imagine that you would have a problem in every gear if the clutch was going away.

 

[Cello87]

Ok I went and got me some jack stands and went to work the first thing I tried was getting the heads off on the passenger side of the engine...major fail I couldn't get the socket around a few of the bolts and Tryin to wrench them off just warped it..so after fighting wit it I finally managed to tighten the top bolt tht was loose on the starter =_= or so I thought..so I tried starting the car back up and it fired rite up without making the whirling noise so I drove it around the block went back and parked it jumped back in it went back to start it and it made the noise Again..so I let it cool off come to find out the bolt was loose again..maybe I didn't tighten it Gud or maybe something is wrong wit the flywheel..anyway I got some pics

 

[Cello87]

 

[Cello87]

 

[Cello87]

A guy told me I might have a rear main seal leak I looked up under and it looked like I gotta slow leak from the oil pan also Im Missin bolts from this whatever it's called....ino I need help..

 

[Exile]

I kept having problems with my starter bolts backing out on me as well, so I finally just got some longer bolts, and put a nut on the back of them with some thread lock. I havnt had a problem with my starter since...

 

[boostfrk]

As far as your trans popping out of 1st and all others are fine your problem might be a bad syncro.

I would think more along the lines of a bent shift fork. Synchros shouldn't cause issues of popping out of gear, just shifting from one to the next.