Wet to go for a ride in my 66 Charger this afternoon. 383 automatic if you are interested... Started right up and immediately heard this terrible noise, turned out the starter was still engaged and with engine running was back driving the starter motor. Since I was still I the garage, In a panic, not sure of the cause, I popped the hood and quickly disconnected the battery terminal. First thing I suspected was starter relay went bad and was stuck closed. Had a spare so replaced it and now all seems good.
Don't think it was the ignition switch but guess that's a possibility. Could also be that the contacts for the starters solenoid were stuck closed as it was obvious that the pinion gear in starter was still engaged to flywheel, but starter is relatively new and was replaced just last year. Since I suspected the starter relay, I took the old one apart for an inspection under the video microscope I have. It definitely shows signs of the contacts having arced and could have possibly been stuck shut, but they weren't stuck when I took it apart though. Hmmm. Some pix are attached.
FYI if you ever wondered current draw of that starter relay, at 12 VDC it's about 420 MA as measured on a Simpson 260. Hoping it's not the starter motor as it sucks to replace. More later if problem re-occurs...
Don't think it was the ignition switch but guess that's a possibility. Could also be that the contacts for the starters solenoid were stuck closed as it was obvious that the pinion gear in starter was still engaged to flywheel, but starter is relatively new and was replaced just last year. Since I suspected the starter relay, I took the old one apart for an inspection under the video microscope I have. It definitely shows signs of the contacts having arced and could have possibly been stuck shut, but they weren't stuck when I took it apart though. Hmmm. Some pix are attached.
FYI if you ever wondered current draw of that starter relay, at 12 VDC it's about 420 MA as measured on a Simpson 260. Hoping it's not the starter motor as it sucks to replace. More later if problem re-occurs...
