ok... so i have 2007 mustang convertible v6 engine automatic transmission, and what i mean by whistles, honestly the only way i can describe it, you ever try whistling after shoving a bunch of crackers in your mouth? well yeah that the sound it makes when i turn the key in the ignition and it struggles to turn on. it happens every once in a while but gradually gets worse to the point where she just wont start turn over crank nothing. until i jump the starter with the dip stick by touching the leads on it, gives a quick kick and then she starts up fine. it'll do this for a good week or so and then just stops acting up and starts up normally for maybe a month to 6 weeks and then randomly starts doing it again. any ideas?? tolerable sort of, but after a while its annoying as hell. it has a rebuilt transmission i put in last September other than that no major changes to it other than oil and filter front rotors and brakes. oh and i don't know if this could be related but when in gear at idle i get pulsating vibrations that get pretty noticeably loud especially if the windows are down, goes away if in park or neutral but in drive it starts purring like a jungle cat transformer.

im thinking starter solenoid or starter itself but i guess my question would why does it only occur occasionally when it feels like it or doesnt feel like it idk

 

Howdy!

Starter motor sounds like, just replace it.

'Just'... yeah, I'm sorry, my bad, I know how not-so-easily-done it is...

Anyway, the whistling is the bendix not working, probably. The bendix is what kicks the starter gear into the flywheel/flexplate ring gear teeth to spin the motor over. If the bendix doesn't do that, the start just spins/whistles. It could also be there's an electrical issue causing the noise. And finally the every so often 'no start' is probably a dead spot in the windings/armature of the starter, and it's landed on it that lucky time. Instead of the trick with the dipstick (which I highly recommend you stop doing, btw) you can knock the starter with a stick and hammer or a 2x4 or something of that effect and bump it into working. If you do that, definitely the starter. And due to that dead spot, the starter can and will overheat and stop working. And also will stop working if you overwork it. Starters aren't nearly the robust things we think they are, because we don't use them nearly enough to be that robust. Just long enough to start the car.

So yeah, you're on the right track, and I'm thinking if you 'just' get it replaced you'll probably be all fixed up. Oh, and the starter solenoid is on the starter and they come as a singular item. You don't replace either, you replace them both.

Hope that helps and welcome to the forum!

 

I hated it when my Grandpa's old John Deere did that, bendix just whirs away, time to get the hand crank out of the tool box, bring it up on compression, watch those thumbs!

 

thanks for the advice will be replacing the starter in the next couple of days and will let you guys know if that fixed the issue. im like 90% sure thats what it is, and your extra two cents confirming it got me to a good place to at least start off with. tyty