>This afternoon I had just finished changing the oil on my 74 Spitfire and
>was sitting there admiring my work, when all of a sudden the starter began
>turning over on its own. Fortunately, I had the neg. battery cable loose and
>I pulled it immediately.
(snipped)
>Has this happened to anyone before? It appears to me that since the starter
>switch, and solenoid appear to operating correctly the the problem must be
>the relay. However, I'm not certain if the brown wire coming from the
>alternator should be providing constant power to the relay or not. Or if
>something in the relay is burned out which allows this power to be relayed
>to the WR wire constantly. I think I'm correct in guessing that this WR
>wire to the solenoid should not have power to it all the time.
I'm a bit confused by your having a solenoid and a relay. I can't
figure that out, and I don't find it in the manual.
I have enjoyed the experience of having starters take off on their own.
Especially on motorcycles. 99.999% of the times it was the
solenoid/relay sticking. Especially when it was cold. I don't know
about a Spitfires contact, but the motorcycles have the contacts
floating on the shaft. So they can stick/weld/fuse/etc themselves
across the contacts, while leaving the solenoid shaft free to move up
and down, clicking heartely.
Staring at my manual, it seems that the alternator lead connects to the
battery via the solenoid, twice actually. So it is possible I guess for
there to be a voltage, but I'm not sure. However, this is at the exact
spot the battery postive connects, so in no way should it fire off the
starter as it doesn't close the contacts. There seems to be only one
signal for that, coming from the ignition switch.
I'd be willing to bet on the solenoid sticking itself. You may be able
to disassemble it and clean it up for reuse.
|