starter won't disengage after starting

You are going to break your starter drive end housing with those spacer washers. Do not space the starter out. You have other problem causing the starter to spin along with the ride. You may have a sticky solinoid or power feed-back while in the run position. Do as PeteL advises and remove the start wire off the solenoid and then turn on the key and use a separate jumper wire from the battery to the solenoid.

 

I'll try that this evening; thanks.

The reason I used the spacer washers is because I could hear the starter gear clicking against the flywheel while turning the engine by hand. Please forgive my ignorance, but I haven't done much work on vehicle's this old...is there supposed a spring between the starter gear and the nose piece of the starter housing (similar to this pic of a 6V starter); maybe that's just for the 6V starters...



In the past, whenever a starter went bad or started acting up, I'd just replace it. But with the cost of these starters, I'm forced to learn more about them and try to resolve the issue. I'll try disconnecting the solenoid wire and jumping from the battery to the solenoid in the run position tonight and report back with what's happening.

Thanks for all the great advice so far folks; I certainly appreciate it!

-WRM

 

The starter you show above is a totally different starter than what you have on your jeep. This starter doesn't have a drive-end housing so it has the bushing/bearing in the bell-housing to hold the end of the starter.

 

I burnt up a starter about 4 months ago because of a similar issue. A rivet broke on the ST terminal allowing it to rotate over and contact the BAT terminal while running about 70 on the highway. Shut everything down real quick and stranded me on the side of the highway. Quick fix for the switch was a chunk of rubber between the terminals. Luckily the starter solenoid retracted and I was on a hill. A clutch start got me home.

 

OK, I did as suggested and disconnected the small wire at the solenoid, turn the key to "run," and used a jumper from the + battery terminal to the solenoid...and it started normally and the starter drive retracted...as it should. So, this tells me that the solenoid itself is doing what it should? Since I already tested the switch while it was off the Jeep, should I next suspect the wiring?

-WRM

 

Keep it simple. Start with only three wires on the switch Batt-IGN-START. Process of elimination.

 

Like Walt says. One thing at a time.

Make sure each individual wire and connection is "known good" before going to the next.

 

Sounds like a plan, I'll get started on it as soon as I can...hopefully, tonight. I was kind of hoping to have this road-worthy by this weekend so I could drive it on the annual trip to Crown King that my Jeep club makes. But, it looks like the JK will be getting loaded tonight instead. Oh well, there'll be plenty of trips to take it on in the future.

-WRM

 

It's a good thing my hair is too short to grab, otherwise I'd have it all pulled out by now... This issue is STILL giving me fits. I've traced the entire harness, and everything still appears to be routed as per factory. Every wire still has the factory terminal ends, and doesn't appear to have been "bubba'd with." The only part of the wiring that appears to have been tampered with, is the 3 wires going to the taillights (they've been cut and spliced a few times over the years), but that shouldn't affect the ignition circuit.

If I remove all the wires from the ignition switch except for the main 3: (BAT - VR/Battery, IGN - + coil, and ST - solenoid), the ST circuit STILL has continuity in the "run" position, meaning that the starter will continue to spin when the ignition is turned to run (and not just the "start" position). As soon as I remove the switch from the vehicle, the switch tests good. I even tried running a separate wire from the ST position to the solenoid, outside of the vehicle harness (to make sure there wasn't a cross-wire somewhere in the harness) and I still get the same problem.

So, I don't believe the problem is in the harness, but I don't understand why the switch tests bad in the Jeep, but tests good OFF the Jeep? I might go pick up ANOTHER switch today and see if I get the same results; I'm at my wit's end here...

-WRM

 

Have you tried hot wires INSTEAD of the switch? That would prove out if everything else is working correctly.

 

***UPDATE - PROBLEM SOLVED!***

As it turns out, the switch I bought was bad right from the beginning. For whatever reason, the old switch tested bad when connected (12V applied), but tested good outside of the vehicle. I just returned from the parts store with another switch (same brand, just exchanged) and it works exactly like it's supposed to. This little piece of joy has made my weekend!

Actually, yes. That was one of the things I tried; jumper wire from the battery directly to the solenoid, and it started and ran just fine. Normally, that would have told me that the switch was bad, but I couldn't understand why it tested good when out of the vehicle.

-WRM

 

I had a problem where the customer installed a new switch that tested bad in the dash but good once removed and I found that he didn't use the backing nut and when he tightened the mounting nut it was warping the switch housing causing some of the internals to jamb.