Starter Woes

[Eric_Garrett]

Anyone run into this before... 73 914, went to start one day and starter solenoid keeps starter engaged and cranking even if key is in off position. Luckily, car didn't start and I had to pull the negative battery cable.

I thought it was the solenoid and tried a different starter and have the same results.

Where would one begin tracking down the short? I'm thinking the switch because after reattaching the negative cable it doesn't have the problem until I try and start again... if that makes sense.

Eric.

[WOODPIE]

Eric

Yeah, I think it is possible for an old ignition switch to malfunction this way. The things get pretty crusty after many thousands of starts. Also, it is unlikely (but not impossible!) that you would have a duplicate malfunction on a completely different starter.

I couldn't even begin to advise you how to "track this down" with a multimeter, but I'll bet someone else here knows the simple way.

Ed

[John Rogers]

Try pulling the smaller wire off the lug on the starter(not the large bolted wire) and reading the voltage to it when someone turns the key to start and then back to run then off. If the voltage stays at 12 volts or so then the switch is bad. Good luck.