starter keeps on going

[andrew]

I have an intermittent problem on my 1970 SIIa, petrol.

Perhaps 1 in every 200 starts the truck will fire up but the starter will not shut off. This is how my previous starter got burned up, with my frantic wife on the phone to me when it happened to her...I tried to guide her as I listened to my poor starter slowly die in the background.

That was the first time it happened. Needless to say, I replaced the starter after that (eventually, after a failed original style starter [unrelated to the above problem], I replaced it with a nice hi torque starter rather than the original -- highly recommended). Maybe 200 starts later with the new starter in place it happened again. Fortunately I was driving. I hopped out and disconnected the battery ground cable. Put it back on and all was again fine.

After that incident I replaced the solenoid (most likely culprit I figured) and the ignition switch (also makes sense). Later, I also replaced battery and starter ground cables. Everything else seems in good order.

It still happens, though. So far, it's been me driving but eventually it will be the wifey and I'm not optimistic she'll be able to hoist the hood (spare attached) and yank the ground cable in time.

Also, today's incident (happened again) had a new twist -- disconnecting the ground cable didn't remedy the situation. Of course, the starter stopped turning over, but when I reconnected the ground cable it was back at it. To break the circuit today I had to remove the positive battery cable (truck is neg ground) from the solenoid, then it behaved normally after reconnection.

So, I think I clearly have a short (I'm assuming my new solenoid and ignition switch are working consistently), but how to detect it since it only happens so infrequently?

Any ideas or other thoughts are welcome. Thanks in advance.

[bensdad]

Where are you in socal?? I am in Pasadena and have a 1960 S2

[andrew]

About 100 miles north of LA, with 3 (!) Series IIa trucks in a 4 block distance of me.

Anyone have any ideas about my starter?...

[SafeAirOne]

What are you using for the starter solenoid--the one on the high-torque starter or one that is mounted remotely (or battery tray)? Or do you have the type with a big starter engage switch on the bulkhead?

By your description, it sounds as if the solenoid is still allowing power to the starter after the switch is released.

The trick is to figure out if it's because the solenoid trigger wire from the starter switch is staying energized, suggesting a bad starter switch, or whether the solenoid's secondary contacts are staying closed after the solenoid coil is de-energized, suggesting a bad ground (causing the secondary contacts to heat up and fuse together). Then again, that could just be a lousy, cheap starter solenoid too...

[andrew]

Agreed that is sounds like the solenoid isn't doing its job correctly (1 of every 200 or so times). I'm not using the solenoid on the starter, but rather this one from our hosts: http://www.roversnorth.com/ProductDesc.aspx?code=13H5952L&type=0&eq=&key=it

Given that it's intermittent, any ideas on how best to diagnose? Or what to do next?

Thanks.

[SafeAirOne]

...any ideas on...what to do next?

Yeah--Use the solenoid on the starter instead of the remote solenoid.

Oh, and install a remote battery disconnect switch (on the positive wire).