<VV> Starter keeps cranking

[Hugo Miller]

If its any consolation, my 64 covertible used to do the exact same 
thing when it got too hot. When I bought it, unbeknownst to me, the fins 
were choked with leaves, and after 20 miles it would overheat. It would 
stall if you had to stop at lights and refuse to restart till it had 
cooled down. When you tried to start it, it would keep cranking and I 
had to disconnect the battery terminal (thankfully it was quick release) 
to stop the starter. There is a clue however - when I reconnected the 
battery, the starter behaved normally. So disconnecting and 
re-connecting the battery made the problem go away (till the next time)
I never got to the bottom of it - I blew the leaves out of the cooling 
fins to stop it overheating & that solved the problem.


On 2021-06-26 03:36, FrankDuVal via VirtualVairs wrote:
> The purple wire from the ignition switch is now going just  to the
> purple wire going to the S terminal of the solenoid?
>
> No diodes left in the circuit from the added relay wiring?
>
> Frank DuVal
>
> On 6/25/2021 6:49 PM, Matt via VirtualVairs wrote:
>> Change the RELAY
>>
>> Matt Nall
>> Sea Mountain
>> SW  Oregon Coast
>>
>>
>> Sent from Mail for Windows 11
>>
>> From: Doug Mackintosh via VirtualVairs
>> Sent: Friday, June 25, 2021 1:36 PM
>> To: Virtual Vairs
>> Subject: <VV> Starter keeps cranking
>>
>>
>> Hello VV diagnosticians!
>>
>> I am a little stumped with astarter problem I am experiencing on my 
>> daily driver 1964 Spyder.
>>
>>
>> The problem is that thestarter continues to crank, even after I 
>> release the ignition switch (or evenswitch it to Off/Lock), until the 
>> car starts. This began as an intermittentproblem, but now seems to 
>> happen every time I start it. As soon as the enginestarts it stops 
>> cranking.
>>
>>
>> I have a separate relaybetween the 12 GA purple wire from the 
>> ignition switch and the 12 GA purplewire going to the starter relay, 
>> to reduce wear and tear on the ignition switchcontacts.
>>
>>
>> Here is what I have done sofar:
>>
>>
>> To rule out the possibilitythat my extra relay is sticking I 
>> disconnected the battery power to that relaywhile the starter was 
>> cranking with the ignition switch released from Start. Ifmy extra 
>> relay was sticking, this should have cut any power to the 12 GA 
>> purplewire to the starter relay. Since this did not stop the cranking 
>> (I had todisconnect the battery negative terminal ground cable to stop 
>> the starter) Idecided the only possibility was the starter solenoid 
>> contacts sticking. Thistest should also have eliminated the unlikely 
>> possibility that my ignitionswitch was sticking in the Start position, 
>> then magically unstickingimmediately when the engine started (also the 
>> key freely returns to the Onposition when released).
>>
>>
>> Next I removed the starterfrom the car. I tested it by connecting 
>> the battery positive terminal to thestarter solenoid main power input 
>> terminal, the battery negative terminal toone of the starter mounting 
>> ears, and then shorted between the main powerterminal and the S 
>> terminal of the starter solenoid. The starter spun, but assoon as I 
>> removed the S terminal short it stopped. So I was not able toduplicate 
>> the "sticking" problem by this test. I attributed this tothe fact that 
>> it would not draw much current with no cranking load, so maybethere 
>> was not enough current across the solenoid contacts to 
>> temporarily"weld" them together.
>>
>>
>> I replaced the startersolenoid with a new AC-Delco solenoid then 
>> reinstalled the starter in the car.
>>
>>
>> When I tried cranking thecar, it still behaved exactly as before: 
>> even when I released the ignitionswitch from the Start position (or 
>> turned to Off/Lock) it continued crankinguntil the car started.
>> As a final test I took theentire extra relay wiring out of the 
>> picture by disconnecting the 12 GA purplewire coming from the ignition 
>> switch from the extra relay input and plugging itinto the connector 
>> for the 12 GA purple wire going to the starter relay,returning it to 
>> the stock factory configuration. I then grounded the coilsecondary 
>> cable to prevent the engine from starting. When I cranked the car 
>> itstill behaved exactly as before: it would crank even after releasing 
>> the key orswitching to Off/Lock; it did not stop cranking until I 
>> disconnected thebattery negative cable at the battery.
>> Anyone else experience thisproblem? Any ideas?
>>
>>
>>
>> -- Doug Mackintosh Corsa member since 1996 Corsa/NC member since 
>> 1996, Virtual Vairs member Corvair owner 1969-1971 and 1996-on
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