Starter won't disengage

[grandmarquisdriversince98]

Hello everyone. My starter won't disengage when I start the car or even when the engine is off and key out of the ignition. I have to pull the negative battery terminal to get it to stop. I went through four starter relays this year and they each worked from one day to a couple of months. It must be something else that makes the starter relays go bad or seem bad. Do I need a new ignition switch? Anyone have this problem and solve it? When I thinks starting trouble and if I know it is not the starter, then all I can figure is the starter relay and the ignition switch.

[1987cp]

Four bad starter relays in a year? That sounds pretty awful.

Don't know if it'll help, but have you considered getting your relays from a different source, or opting for a more expensive one that maybe comes with a warranty?

[grandmarquisdriversince98]

Yep. Some have a warranty. The first one was more than a year old. The second one was a bazillion years old because it was a spare from when I got the car. The third one was returned for refund because it only lasted a month or two. This fourth one was a new Motorcraft and it went bad yesterday so it might be returnable. Therefore, I had to use a new spare I bought on the same day as the Motorcraft one from Kragen's Auto Parts and then it went bad on the same day when I got to my brother's. I guess it's actually five relays then.

[gadget73]

Replace the starter and the relay. When the starter begins to fail, it will pull more current than the relay is rated to handle, which welds the contacts together. I would also check the condition of the battery cables and the cable to the starter. Bad cables mean lower voltage, which means more amps required to turn the starter over.

[grandmarquisdriversince98]

Also, would it be a good idea to test the little red wire that goes to the starter relay first to make sure there is consistently no current coming through it when it shouldn't? Then replace the starter if that is correct. My last starter lasted a little over a year so it wouldn't surprise me that if this one is bad then it lasted a little over a year also. New cars with starters might last over five years, right, so why can't a new starter for an old car have the quality to last over five years?

[Nathan in MI]

The next time it happens, yank the little red wire off the solenoid and see if it stops cranking. That'll tell you for sure whether the solenoid is actually bad or not.

As for the longevity of your starters, if your replacements have been remanufactured starters, it's possible that you've gotten some bad ones. Remans aren't always perfect.

[grandmarquisdriversince98]

That seems easy enough so that my next step will be clearer after that. The car is at my brother's right now though.

[91waggin]

What year is this car? Consider going to the later style starter that comes on 90+ cars.

[grandmarquisdriversince98]

Already got the starter replaced and it seems fine now. 1988. I'll keep that in mind next time. I wouldn't be surprised if a later starter would be an improvement.

[1987cp]

Yeah, the later starters are said to feature more torque and less current draw. They cost more, though - one of the strengths of the early starter is you can get a new or reman one for less than 50 bucks (I think the last one I bought was more like $35).