Repair shop installs starter with hole chipped out of it.

I had a new Napa starter motor installed on my 92' Ford Ranger earlier this week. I was under the truck and noticed that it has a jagged edged hole where a piece broke out of it. What the hell? Anybody seen this on a starter before? Someone at the shop must have dropped it. The photo is atatched

 

Are you sure it's broken and that is not a drain hole?

 

Would a starter motor have a drain hole that big if at all? Isn't the idea to keep out dirt and water?
The hole has jagged edges also as if a piece broke out. My old starter has no hole.

 

Ok.
Well the picture is not in focus so it is hard to tell.

If it is broken then I guess you should take it back and point it out cause it might get water in there.
If the factory or re-builder didn't make it like that then it should not be there

 

I have a better photo uploaded here. This looks weird. Doesn't it look like someone purposely cut a shaped hole in it?

I went to auto parts store today and fortunately they agreed to do an exchange with no further cost to me.

Maybe moderator can delete photo from original posting so it doesn't take up space. Thanks

 

A bad rear engine seal could fill a starter with oil.
Perhaps before rebuilding it was on a vehicle that did just that.

 

It is packaged as a brand new starter. Somebody crudely cut a hole in that starter for some reason...........or perhaps the reason you mentioned. Maybe a Napa employee tampered with it for his personal vehicle. Then they boxed it up again and tried to push it off on an unsuspecting customer like me. At any rate, it's very strange.

 

Assuming that you're laying under the car looking mostly straight up when you take the picture, that hole maybe should have a short drain tube in it. Automakers learned that if you don't provide some kind of venting or draining for mechanical assemblies, that bad things happen when they retain moisture for an extended period of time.

I can't really comment on specifics for Ford, but they've been known to cut corners in their designs, and if Ford figured that the starter could live without the drain tube, then they may have omitted it in their original design after a time, and then the autoparts manufacturers may also have chosen to follow suit.

 

Well, I could understand if it had something similar to a weep hole. But my old part has nothing like that cut hole. I think an employee was trying to fashion a crude drain hole. The he decided it was a bad idea and slipped it back into the inventory.

 

There are no cut-marks in that second picture though. The inside of the void has the same texture as the surrounding casing. That means that it was neither broken-out, nor cut-out, and that the part was cast that way, not modified after-the-fact.

Besides, if an auto parts store employee modified something and broke it, he could just send it back the way any damaged or otherwise-improper merchandise is returned. He could even go so far as to "pay" for it and "return" it to document its fault in the computer, without ever actually whipping out a credit card or pulling cash out of his wallet. He wouldn't need to foist it on to anyone.

 

I'll agree with TWX. Showed the last picture to my nephew, a mechanic, and he said that is a drain for moisture.

 

Sorry guys. I don't agree. There is no way that hole is a natural part of the casting. Look at it closely. It has rough edges and imperfections. That was cut into the metal by someone.

It's possible it could have been manufactured with a small drain hole. Then someone may have used a tool to widen the hole. When the new part arrives, I'll know then.

 

i think its normal. best image i could find. but i know i have seen this many times. you can see the same hole next to the trans lines.
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I agree with Iceman, it looks to me like perhaps the guy who rebuilt it may have pried there to open the assembly but see no reason to replace it based on that issue. Does it work properly when you start the car and keep in mind that it's likely a rebuilt starter and not a OEM new piece, it has already has one full life and been sent back into battle.

 

UPDATE. I went to the parts store yesterday and the clerk compared a brand new starter with the photo of mine. The new starter also had the U-shaped hole. But he commented that the hole on mine looked like it was cut out by hand and did not look like the casting of a new one.

I see what happened now. They sold me a remanufactured starter and packaged it as a NEW one. I'll just have the parts store refund the difference between price of rebuilt one and new one. Thanks for all the input.

 

BIL says that is a "location pin or something".

By that I think he means the gold half has a tab to slide in the hole so the two pieces are orientated correctly to each other....my guess anyway.

Personally, I think you're causing yourself undue stress/gray hair. That starter will probably last longer than you will.

Wish I had an old starter laying around so I could take it apart and look.

 

Looks like that hole is part of the original casting. The problem now days is the castings aren't part of the original starter, but come from China or wherever. It could be part of the casting process for holding in place or it could be a casting that serves a dual application compared to the original. That looks like a new casting opposed to a cleaned up reman.