Starter Solenoid

I ran into a small problem putting my car back together yesterday. When I reconnected the battery my starter started to spin, so I disconnected it and took a look. Everything appears normal on the solenoid. I checked clearance between all the wires to ensure that no wires were crossed. I never disconnected wiring during the tear-down, so there was no opportunity to reverse wiring. I disconnected and reconnected all of the wires, checked voltage from the battery, and pulled the solenoid to apply power. When I give it power the spring loaded shaft pulls back into the housing.

I looked for a ground on the starter itself that maybe I forgot to reconnect and didnt see anything. There are three wires on the solenoid, one from the starter itself, two external. I didnt pull the starter back off because that top bolt sucks.

Any thoughts? My next step is to replace the solenoid but it looks like it isnt a common part and will need to be ordered.
Thanks

The relay in the fuse box might be sticking. Give it a smack and see if it releases. Or try pulling it first and see if the starter still spins.

I would think it more likely a wire got pinched and it’s getting power when it shouldn’t.

But I live by this rule; if it wasn’t broke before...probably something I did.


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Absolutely true. I had a lot of parts out, there is a good chance I goofed something.

Unless somehow the solenoid got stuck out while you had it apart. One time event. I’d just touch the batt cable to post and see if the problem is resolved.

After that pull the wire and start tracing.

Pretty sure all those run under the front of the pan though so they shouldn’t have gotten pinched.

Ground is through the case to block.


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Thanks for the info all. As an update, it looks like I forgot how it came apart. There is a tiny fork inside of the starter that needs to slide around the sprung shaft of the solenoid. Not doing that caused the solenoid to push the shaft back and stay engaged... To where applying power to the car meant the starter circuit would always be completed and the car would keep trying to turn over. Easy fix once I realized. Got my car off stands and driving for the first time in over a year.