david85
Full Access Member
This is a new one for me, but after some googlizing, it's not unheard of to have a starter get stuck on. The biggest surprise is that it "appears" to still work fine after a 4 mile drive while being stuck on. Speeds were mostly below 35mph and engine RPM up to 1600.
My first clue was the ammeter was gradually increasing toward 3/4 scale. I've NEVER seen it that high for more than a few seconds after a hard startup in cold weather. With some recent talk about alternators on the forum, I thought maybe my number was up on that factory original external regulator. I even popped the trans into neutral and bumped the RPM a little to see the effect. Ammeter still kept climbing.
When I shut off the truck to talk to somebody nearby, I realized the engine was still cranking at high speed (not running, cranking!). That's when I popped the hood and and tried pulling the red/blue starter wire from the fender solenoid - No effect! Then I twisted the battery leads off by hand to finally kill it.
I was parked on a gentle hill, so rolling it off the road was easy. When I hooked the batteries back up, the starter didn't come back on. Then I tried to start it, and it cranked fine (after plugging the starter wire back in). I started and shut it off a few more times to be sure everything was still working. Other than a smell of hot carbon from the overheated starter, everything seemed normal for the rest of the day.
I've already eliminated the wiring back to the ignition switch by pulling the starter wire. So it's possible either the fender solenoid, or the starter solenoid locked on. No reason to think this can't happen again. My first though was to just replace both solenoids, but I'm not sure what internal damage there may be on the starter itself from overheating/over spinning.
Maybe getting overdriven by the engine helped keep the amps down and prevent a total meltdown...But I can't imagine this to be very healthy for even the most robust starters out there (and I don't know if this one is of them...). I'll still live by the 20 second rule but who knew a starter could survive this kind of punishment?
My guess is that its on borrowed time, but at least I know what to do if it happens again. If I'm able, I'll do a post-mortem an report the results here.
My first clue was the ammeter was gradually increasing toward 3/4 scale. I've NEVER seen it that high for more than a few seconds after a hard startup in cold weather. With some recent talk about alternators on the forum, I thought maybe my number was up on that factory original external regulator. I even popped the trans into neutral and bumped the RPM a little to see the effect. Ammeter still kept climbing.
When I shut off the truck to talk to somebody nearby, I realized the engine was still cranking at high speed (not running, cranking!). That's when I popped the hood and and tried pulling the red/blue starter wire from the fender solenoid - No effect! Then I twisted the battery leads off by hand to finally kill it.
I was parked on a gentle hill, so rolling it off the road was easy. When I hooked the batteries back up, the starter didn't come back on. Then I tried to start it, and it cranked fine (after plugging the starter wire back in). I started and shut it off a few more times to be sure everything was still working. Other than a smell of hot carbon from the overheated starter, everything seemed normal for the rest of the day.
I've already eliminated the wiring back to the ignition switch by pulling the starter wire. So it's possible either the fender solenoid, or the starter solenoid locked on. No reason to think this can't happen again. My first though was to just replace both solenoids, but I'm not sure what internal damage there may be on the starter itself from overheating/over spinning.
Maybe getting overdriven by the engine helped keep the amps down and prevent a total meltdown...But I can't imagine this to be very healthy for even the most robust starters out there (and I don't know if this one is of them...). I'll still live by the 20 second rule but who knew a starter could survive this kind of punishment?
My guess is that its on borrowed time, but at least I know what to do if it happens again. If I'm able, I'll do a post-mortem an report the results here.