OP could do a couple of voltage tests at the starter motor, might possibly provide a clue what’s happening. That’s what I’d do first if I had this problem myself. There’s usually only two electrical connections at the starter motor, a big thick wire, and a thinner wire. The thick wire comes directly from the battery, often not even a fuse in that circuit. The thin wire is the “start” signal from the ignition switch.
With the key in the “off” or “on” position (or removed from the ignition switch entirely) the thick wire should measure about 12.6 volts, and the thin wire close to 0 volts. With the key in the “start” position the thick wire should measure about 10.5-11 volts, and the thin wire should measure about 11.5 - 12.5 volts. Measure with the wires remaining connected, which means you sort of have back-probe the connector, and connect the negative lead of the volt meter directly to the starter case (not chassis ground). Be cautious, remember the engine may crank when doing this. I don’t do it laying under the car, I make some long lead wires from the starter motor to the volt meter, and do the measurement from the passenger compartment.
If the “start” signal remains near battery voltage when the key is returned from “start” to “on”, that means there’s something wrong with the ignition switch or the starter relay.
That (“thin”) wires you are referring to comes from the starter relay and goes to the starter solenoid. It will not be energized until the key is turned to start the engine.
I still maintain it is the starter itself. According to OP, the problem did not start until after he replaced the kaputt starter with a rebuilt one. I had the identical problem a few months ago and it was discussed here in length also…it was the starter
A wise mechanic younger than me once told me if you fix something and have a problem, go back to what you just fixed first since that is the most likely problem. My concern would be that when they test the starter on the counter, they may not be able to get the solenoid to stick and might dispute the claim. I think I might even tell them to forget testing it and just assume the exchange.
No disagreement, I concur that the starter motor itself is the most likely culprit. But it is possible instead that there’s a problem with the start signal. i.e. bad ignition switch or bad starter relay. If OP were to discover that was the case via a voltage test, that would save them the work of unnecessarily removing the starter.
[quote=“MikeInNH, post:12, topic:105135, full:true”]
What could be happening is the Starter gears get stuck on the fly-wheel.
[/quote]That would not explain the starter running after the engine is shut off.
Someone above explained that if the starter gear doesn’t retract, that can keep the solenoid contacts closed. In other words the out or in position of the starter gear is mechanically linked to the contacts being closed or open. I guess I haven’t ever checked that on my Corolla’s starter motor. But it is true that the magnetic field in the selenoid which pulls the plunger out and moves the gear out to meet the flywheel also closes the motor’s power on/off contacts.
I joined this site to make a comment and I have/had the same problems. the original OP says:
“Was running great until yesterday, when I turned the ignition and got nothing but a click every time the key was turned. Checked the battery (had power)”
My very first thought is and was… LOW BATTERY POWER. did he check to see if the posts were corroded? did the tester show 14Volts for battery power or just below? many times people jump to the conclusion that the starter is cooked… 99/100 times it is the battery that is not fully charged. clicks signal not enough juice 1st thing to examine are the battery posts.
many comments after this are stating that it must be the starter after he had changed it out. another problem started. Run on…
my problem is run on, took starter out, took relay out and made a starting circuit with a remote starter to eliminate 2 things, starter and the relay. (I have a 900 amp cat battery on the floor of my shop for testing stuff)… eliminated both starter problems NOT a shorting starter nor a relay short/problem.
George San Jose made the most informed comment on this board. with his electrical tests. cheers.
on my problem i am now leaning more towards the ignition switch or key tumbler sticking, however i did tear apart the column and took the tumbler out, it seemed to be fine when it was switching and good free travel. read could be related problem with pcm… cheers and no where did the OP come back to say he fixed the problem nor figured out the solutions.
I forgot about this site. i want to update this and explain what i did to fix problem and eat a little crow.
After a full examination of all possible problems, it was the starter that was screwed. but the problem didn’t seem a problem when the starter was out of the truck as i did test it. what was happening was the bendix spring was staying open and not re-coiling the spring back into the starter and keeping it extended. but it did not do this when i was testing it out of the truck so it was doing all normal things. i did have a second starter that was from another old truck i have been parting out. placed that starter into the truck and this fixed the run on problem. so yes it was the starter, but all testing didn’t show a starter problem.
this should be a lesson of test all suspect conditions before spending good money to chase phantom problems.
(didn’t have a blower motor on my old pinto for a long time, checked fuse and glass always looked good, so didn’t think that the problem. tore open dash last year to fix a wire short. there were no shorts. recheck the fuse and then spotted that the wire at the base was actually broke. lesson learned… check out everything and don’t jump to conclusuions.) cheers
