Anybody encountered this before?(electrical)

[YellowHammer]

I just replaced my direct drive starter for a gear reduction starter as the old was on it's way out. The truck sat for a month before I got around to doing it. After the new starter was in I hook up my batteries and go to start it. The starter fired fine but I think I lost prime in the fuel line. So I stop to go prime the fuel system and all of a sudden the starter begins turning over without the keys in the ignition.

I'm right at the batteries so I quickly disconnect the batteries.(ran about 10 seconds) I figure that the starter relay went bad since that's such a common problem so I replaced it. I go back reconnect the batteries and they spark like there's a dead short somewhere. In the short time I had the terminal on the wire going to the glow plug relay already warmed up a little. I disconnected the glow plug relay and tried reconnecting the terminal again and still had the terminal spark severely.

Any ideas on which way I should go from here?

 

[Warthog]

Have you replaced the starter relay under the dash with the "doghead" upgrade?

Another thought is the starter solenoid stuck. Where did you get the starter? Sure it is 24v?

 

[YellowHammer]

Have you replaced the starter relay under the dash with the "doghead" upgrade?

Another thought is the starter solenoid stuck. Where did you get the starter? Sure it is 24v?

Yes. I replaced the starter relay. The starter is 24V. Got it from DB Electrical out of Tennessee.

 

[pgwaldner]

Yep, exactly the same. New starter, a month to get around to putting it in. Starter sticks and disconnected teh batteries and they sparked when reconnected. Unplugged the relay under dash and no problem hooking up batteries. The relay was brand new. Used a push button for the starter jumping between the red and purple wires. problem solved. If you dont want push button start, do the doghead.

 

[SouthernSteel]

I have a gear reduction starter and i did the doghead relay conversion about 2 years ago and so far so good.:]

 

[Keith_J]

Ignition switch?

 

[SouthernSteel]

I did a whole tilt column swap from a 90 suburban.No more starting problems after i did that.My original cucv column was warn out it kept going thru ignition switches.

 

[pgwaldner]

Column

I did a whole tilt column swap from a 90 suburban.No more starting problems after i did that.My original cucv column was warn out it kept going thru ignition switches.

On the TO DO list

 

[Warthog]

Yes. I replaced the starter relay. The starter is 24V. Got it from DB Electrical out of Tennessee.

Please clarify...you replaced it with a stock relay or converted to the doghead upgrade?

The "new" relay may be bad. Seen it happen.