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1988 Tercel Engine Won't Turn Off


awesometastic1
05-04-2010, 10:27 PM
This thing has always run great, but now it's taking it a little too far and refuses to shut off when I take the key out. :-)

All the other stuff turns off as normal when the key is turned from the On to ACC and then Off and removed. The dash lights / radio / heater / etc turns off. But the engine continues to run normally. In order to turn it off I have to put it in gear with the brake on or disconnect the battery.

Interestingly, the battery will also be dead the next day if I leave the battery plugged in.

All this started the other day after I took off the starter and cleaned up the solenoid contacts which had some oil/muck on them, which were causing it not to engage the starter. I cleaned up the contacts and put the starter back in and it started right up, but now won't shut off and the battery goes dead.

The only thing I messed with electrically was to disconnect the wire to the starter and then reconnect it. I could see maybe something with the battery draining happening there if there is a little short somewhere in the starter, but that doesn't explain to me why the engine runs fine with the car shut off.

Any ideas?

jdmccright
05-05-2010, 11:21 AM
All I can think of is that if you were disconnecting the starter before disconnecting the negative battery cable, you might have caused a short in the ignition switch or caused an ignition relay to become stuck closed. I'd look at a wiring diagram and trace back through to see what components could be impacted. Good luck & let us know what happens!

awesometastic1
05-05-2010, 05:13 PM
I disconnected the battery before working on taking the starter off.

I was just thinking though that there is a slim chance maybe I connected the starter wire up in reverse? It seems like the connector should stop me from being able to do that, but it is old and just plastic. I was just thinking the starter would still work that way (just cranking the engine backwards from normal) and maybe the reversed polarity there would keep the relay from switching the car off when I took the key out as its still getting some current to the ignition.

Before I crawl under there and take a look, does that sound plausible at all to anyone? I'm kind of hoping so; save me from getting out the old multi-meter and having to trace it manually.

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