Ford Lehman strange noise and won't start after head gasket change

[reynolds.brad]

Hi all,

Can anyone help?

I've just changed the head gasket on my fl120 as well as the oil, oil filter, and I also cleaned the heat exchanger.

I've re torqued the head as per the instructions and bleed the air out of the fuel lines.

I've got a weird noise when trying to start the engine that never used to exist. In fact this weird noise didn't exist the first few attempts at starting the engine after the rebuild.

Here is a short 5 second video so you can hear the noise: https://youtu.be/m4Tc6z1Vmw8

Any idea? I'd really appreciate some help as I don't have any money to pay someone to help me.

[skipperpete]

It seems to be a Ford Lees, what’s the pipe that’s hanging loosely in the intake manifold. The video clip was too brief to get an idea of what the noise might be.

[tkeithlu]

OK. I'm hearing impaired, so treat my hearing something with caution. What I'm hearing is the starter, probably the Bendix, ripping into the star wheel. It could be as simple as the starter not being torqued down.

So, my first suggestion is that you check the bolts holding the starter to the engine. If they are OK, then my next suggestion is that you pull the starter off and inspect the Bendix gear teeth and the star wheel teeth. The starwheel is the gear teeth that surround the flywheel, and which the starter gear engages. Is anything chewed up?

Next I'd put the starter in a vise (DON'T do this with a loose starter - the torque will throw it at you) and bump it from a battery and jumper cables. Does the Bendix fly out, and the starter spin smoothly, or have you got a messed up starter motor/bendix combination?

I found a new star wheel for a similar Ford engine from the 1950s in 2010. That's not to say that it will be easy to replace, if that is the problem.

[skipperpete]

Did you get the Ford started yet? I’m hoping that the noise has been diagnosed and dealt with but if not, let us know what you’ve done thus far towards a solution, some of the forum contributors have a lot of experience with these engines.
Pete.