Drove 4 miles with starter stuck on

david85

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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?:dunno

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.
 

lotzagoodstuff

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I'm in complete agreement with your shock that the starter still works. It would be interesting to see if a rebuild shop could go through the starter and solenoid to see if there's anything "telling". In the mean time: pretty sweet karma that it got you home!
 

subway

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I am sure the brushes wore down a bit on that one! The fact that it was charging your system indicates that one of the solenoids locked on like you suspected. I would be tempted to replace the solenoid and starter. Keep the old one for a spare.

Your truck seems to nice to be at the stage of "just send it and see which part lets go of the magic smoke."
 

IDIBRONCO

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I'll also recommend replacing the starter. It won't last long especially with the loads that these starters see while trying to get our engines running.
 

TNBrett

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Take a good look at the ring gear on the flex plate or flywheel when you have the starter out. I’m thinking it’s probably okay, but definitely one of those things that’s worth a closer look.
 

david85

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Well, next day had a few starts and shutdowns without problems but I can't take any chances. A new starter is on order.

After putting the new one in, I'll open up the old one and see what I can see. If it seems to have some kind of divine spirit protecting it and there is no damage, it will stay on the shelf as a spare for later.
 

IDIBRONCO

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It'll work right up until you want to drive it in the garage to replace it, and then it will refuse LOL
Mine almost did that one time. I had my slide in camper on and a trailer behind the truck. All it would do is click. I was lucky enough that I parked on the street and there's enough of a hill that I cloud put the transmission in reverse and roll back down the hill fast enough to get the engine started. I unhooked the trailer behind my garage and parked the truck out by the street. The whole property is on enough of a slope that I could roll start the truck after I got help to unload the camper. The hood was already off and I drove the truck into the garage to pull the engine which ended up in an overhaul of the engine.
 

BrianX128

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I've had 3 stick during excessive cranking while fixing starting issues with mine during winters. Free wheeling them doesn't seem to bother them like a load does. I wasn't sure if one was bad or not as I was able to pop battery cables off after noticing it was stuck and shutting the truck off, putting it in neutral, ebrake, etc. I let it sit on the bench for a good 15 minutes free wheeling and it didn't even get hot. I'd still replace it, but I don't know how bad it would be. I think fighting these engines compression is what kills them more than just spinning.

The fun is when you have one stuck and can't get the battery cables off the truck and have never had this happen so you stick the truck in 4th and pop the clutch to blow up the starter. Oops. I mean it worked..
 

david85

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Thats what I'm thinking too. Torque, low RPM and low battery voltage means very high current and lots of heat. I still smelled the hot starter after the ordeal ended but in the days since the incident, it's never worked better. New starter hasn't arrived yet...
 
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