Starter stuck on

[Hammer]

Moved the 818 around yesterday.
Second time I started it, I heard an odd noise, but it wasn't too loud, so I thought it was the tach cable making some noise (cable doesn't engage correctly).
But when I turned the motor off, the starter kept cranking! I flipped the switches a few times with no change.
I hopped out and ran to the battery box. I had the cable on there tight. But I grabbed the cables and started yanking on them enough to loosen the nuts holding them onto the terminals. Loosened the nut, and had a shower of sparks as I finally yanked the positive cable loose.

Starter obviously stopped, and would arc heavily if I put the cable back.

My question.
Is there anything else in the system that would cause the starter to stick ON other then the solenoid itself?

 

[armytruck63]

I had an old V-6 CJ-5 do something similar once. It started cranking at high RPM by itself (I had the sparkplugs out). I was in my garage and luckily the jeep was in neutral. I too had to yank off a battery cable.

I found a burned section of wiring harness. Apparently a live wire had shorted to the the wire heading to the starter relay (this was many years ago and I'm going by memory).

I'm not sure if this is what's happening in your case, but it is a possibility.

 

[amphi]

Is there anything else in the system that would cause the starter to stick ON other then the solenoid itself?

Well I'm looking at this wiring diagram now and I'll let you know if I see any possibilities.

http://www.tpub.com/content/trucks5ton/TM-9-2320-260-20/TM-9-2320-260-201328.htm

 

[cbvet]

Stuck solenoid on starter. Contact burned inside. You can probably clean it up.

 

[amphi]

Most likely what cbvet said above -- you know how to check this out with a meter.

The below is not the answer but a good read:

http://www.tpub.com/content/trucks5ton/TM-9-2320-260-20/TM-9-2320-260-200049.htm


This page says: "D PROTECTIVE CONTROL BOX Prevents engagement of starter motor once engine is running."

Could be something in the box


Still looking.

 

[amphi]

Well this is a possibility

If there were a short internal to the ignition switch it would act as you describe.

Easy to Check:

With the switch OFF and all three wires disconnected you should have an OPEN circuit between pins R and S. If not it is shorted.

Funny: The above linked diagram is not drawn correctly. If the solenoid were wired as drawn the engine would not crank at all.

 

[amphi]

Forget what I said above about the ignition switch because there would have to be another failure for this to be true.

Because as soon as you turn the battery switch to the off position power in removed from the ignition switch.

Just remove either end of the heavy lead going between the solenoid and starter.

Begin your diagnosis. You'll figure it out.

Besides, I'm just working on my post count here. Ha Ha

 

[Hammer]

Thanks guys.
If I get some time today I will start by pulling the solenoid off and see how that looks.
I just didn't want it to happen again if there was some other 'known problems'. But after searching on here, I couldn't really find much in this section about the starters being stuck ON. Almost all results were for the control box keeping them from starting.

 

[Hammer]

It ended up being the small lead that goes between the starter and solenoid had been rubbing and wore a hole through the cover and was shorting out on the power and causing the starter to stay on.
I pulled the end of the solenoid off anyways to check the condition. It ended up being in fairly good condition. I cleaned up the end of the bolt side a little and put it all back together.
It now starts and STOPS just fine.

 

[grizcty]

Just my .

Try putting a master ON/OFF switch on your truck.
"Just in case" this happens again.

Great for solving unknown battery drains.
Make a easy anti theft device. (or grandsons playing were they shouldn't be)GRRRR

 

[Hammer]

I was thinking about doing exactly that!

 

[bigelk50]

Ed,
I had the EXACT thing happen to me about 15 minutes ago. By the time I got my positive cable off it melted the solder and the cable came out of the the terminal. I plan to do as you did to the starter and solenoid. I was wondering if you ever put a master switch in your truck? Pics if ya did. I will let you know how my progress goes. I am glad I found your thread. I have had the truck for almost a year and never had any starting or stopping problem with it.

 

[Hammer]

I haven't had time to put a master on the truck yet, but plan on putting a keyed master on it in the near future. It will be both a safety and security measure.

I was lucky that I got there in time to pull the cable before I had a melt down like you did. As soon as I figured out what was happening, I immediately thought I was going to have melted batteries, cables, etc. But I was very fortunate.

Take pictures of your master install! Mine will still be a bit off, but I will snap some pictures when I get to that point.

 

[bigelk50]

Thanks Ed, the batteries still tested at 12+ volts a piece ea. I have not load tested them yet though. I really hope I did not cook a battery!! I am going to pull the starter off today, but it will not be till next week that I look at it. Opening weekend of sear season and I am starting a new job too. Been a busy week.

I will post pics of everything when I get it done, thanks!