89 F-150 inline 6, Hard to start, seems to struggle,and shake, but once started runs fine...Ate up 2 starters. Any ideas as to why?

The rocker arm has to be set perfectly so as to not be TOO TIGHT or TOO LOOSE.. TOO tight and it will miss/shake/vibrate ... too loose and it will TICK/make noise and not run well...

no year, way a shame. 1jz what, there are 3. ge,gte,fse
24valve, DOHC , got twin turbos?
inline 6 , 2.5L (unknown target country or EFI used)
do the 60k mile tune up.
(ignition off to on process) huh? bad starts , ( i do a battery of tests ) here is a stupid list. (can do 50)
LOL what a pun, battery not low? (a battery of battery tests? LOL.
no year, makes answers SUPER HARD so guess at 96+
ever run a scan tool on it, see if DTCS are there? if not; why not?
1: never tuned up, this decade or last 60k mile marker.
2: ISC sticking close, starves air and goes rich floods.
3: low fuel pressure
4: leaking or clogged (full or partial) injectors
5: ECT reads wrong, so fueling is wrong
6: flooding for many reasons.
7: weak compression on 1 or more cylinders.
8: leaking head valves.
9:cam belt slipped, see low compression x 6
10: spark parts bad, or timed wrong.
11: scan it, scan it scan, it.... but no year so cant help you.........

nor country stated.. EFI works different in each country
not the basics but how to SCAN>
nobody here ever posts country cept, 2 in 4500 posts..... amazes me...

try your starter and your couil packs

Cold weather has an adverse affect on batteries. The clicking sound could be from the starter solenoid not receiving enough voltage to energize the starter motor. The engine being hesitant to start and run could indicate the need of new spark plugs, wires, etc.

Sounds like the timing is to far advanced.****** the timing until motor turns freely when cranking it over.

Hi! As a first course of action please have an oil change. The oil can be burnt which can cause the engine to shake during cold start ups. Experienced this myself and an oil change was a helpful idea. Hope this helps and thank you for using FixYa!

You should've changed the coil when you replaced the starter. If you could only do one at a time, I would've gone with the coil first. There is a brass plate that gets charred with carbon build up. Your banging on the coil shakes some of it off, re-establishing a good connection. You can sometimes get away with taking it apart and cleaning all off with a mini-grinder or rotary wire brush. This will confirm it for you and buy you time until payday or your next day off.

if it didn't shake before the starter change,and the black marks were not there before,you need to see if the positive cable is getting hot to the touch,double check the large battery cables going to starter that they are on correctly ,dont go by color of wire ,visually follow each wire to starter to make sure its a ground or hot one,last possibility
would be a dead short in starter.

its not right thats for sure ask nicely for them to have another look ,might have a starter with the wrong number of teeth on

Sounds like you have a problem with your fuel injectors, either they are working to much or not enough once they get warm....

Take it to a shop ant tell them you want the injectors tested.