I have nothing but ford products but I hope I don't get kicked off for this ,I love fords and Mercury own nothing but them but today I have a 1999 Mercury Mountaineer I 'am not sure what the deal is ,,its a 1999 Mercury Mountaineer 4.0 ,I have had in the last two days tried a rebuilt starter's on it 2 times and I do mean two different starters rebuilt and it will not engage flywheel as in hit fly wheel, the bendix pinion gear is working on starters I have bench tested them both they run to the end I have got under the car I hear it spin and turn with some one starting it ,but gear's never hit the fly wheel, i have mic it from the face of the mount on starter to the end of the fly wheel and its 1.150 so the starter is right my ??? is what size is the bendix pinion gear on the starter as I think they are using the wrong size gear or I 'am missing something else ????also its not a alignment problems as have checked that as it hard not to get the right alignment with the lips and close fits as it has, also the fly wheel is hard to turn so that's not it, I have never run across this before in all my yrs and starter's hope some one can help

 

To me, the quickest way to double check the pinion gear size would be to take your starter to an Auto Parts store and see if you can compare it to a "NEW" non-rebuilt unit.

 

it is a 4wd not all wheel drive also just came to me does the fly wheel bolt direct to motor or is on a elect clutch system that would allow it to free wheel when key is turned on thanks again for the help you give

 

The flywheel is bolted directly to the engines crankshaft. Then the flywheel gets bolted to the torque converter.

 

hello you will not believe what I found out was looking at them test this new starter and I noted the rotation clock wise on it and asked them to test this rebuilt one and saw it turn counter- clock wise when it should turn clock wise ,just got back from the ford house and auto parts store ,the starter is turning in the wrong direction toward the slip side of the bendex pinion gear that means I have got two starters in 3 days with same deal now how can you reverse the rotation on a starter

 

Probably can be rewired internally. I would just make them replace it woth a known "TESTED GOOD" unit. Why should you pay for a faulty unit or rewire the faulty unit.