Starter Run On, But Solenoid Not Engaged?

[deumling]

Hi All,

The other day, my starter would not stop running. I had started the truck, and the solenoid had disengaged, but the starter motor just kept running. It was not engaged with the flywheel, it simply freewheeled. I opened the hood, and disconnected the negative terminal on the front battery. (I know now that this was maybe not the best thing to do) I got the starter rebuilt, and have the truck back up and running. I have spent a good bit of time reading about the starter run on issues with these trucks, and I have learned a lot. I bought the Doghead relay, and am going to be installing it today. If I understand the issue correctly though, it sounds like in my case, it was not the under dash relay that malfunctioned, but the contacts on the starter itself. The guy at the starter rebuild shop said that low voltage can cause the the contacts to weld together. Since my batteries were getting old, I replaced them.

Has this happened to anyone else? Is there anything else that I can do to prevent this in the future? I am super paranoid about this happening again.

Thanks everyone for all of the great info on this forum.

best

-ben

 

[Warthog]

Welcome to the site. A lot of info and knowledge here.

Sounds like the solenoid on the starter was toast. The under dash relay may have also stuck.

The Doghead relay upgrade will take care of alot of starter issues. But remember it is still mechanical and can break.

On these truck you have to remove BOTH negative cables to disconnect the complete circuit.

Did you know that the original starter relay started its life as an A/C relay? Not quite designed to handle the big power draw of a starter system.

 

[deumling]

Thanks Warthhog for the quick reply. I am hoping that the new relay will fix most of the starter issues, I am just worried that it might have been something else than the relay failing that caused the starter to run, since the solenoid was not engaged.

I am also having some issues with my Gen 2 light flickering. Should I post that in a new thread or keep it here?

thanks

-ben