I just replaced a my starter on a 89 Firebird GTA again and I am having this problem which either when my car is already running or when just starting it seem like the selenoid sticks and starter keeps cranking even when the engine is on. This is a very scary situation. I burned out my last started from this issue which is the reason I replaced it with a AC Delco. I didnt have a single problem until a month after the install I was turning into taco bell and all of a sudden my starter started cranking I had to pull the pos. terminal on the batt. and later had my car towed back to my college. After further inspection the starter is fine but when I tried to jump it bc bat was dead from cranking it would not click or turn over or anything. Stumped I got down to the starter with the voltemeter and everything was kosher. I check my vats and security light was not on. After quiting that day for further research I went out there today inspected the starter and wires once again. Jumped it and first try nothing second try nothing third try started with no problem. I let it run and charge the bat. then took it for a spin around the lot put it back in the spot and all of a sudden the starter started cranking I shut off the car and kept cranking the suddenly stopped. Out of curiousity I pulled the crank fuse from the fuse box to see if the starter would still turn over and it did and didnt shut off. I had to shut it down again and started finally stopped. What the heck is goin on here. My two thoughts is new selenoid is stick or just comming on when it pleases or I have ignition wires somewhere chaefing and that is why the starter cranks randomly. Any thoughts? Thanks in advanced.

 

Got a remote start on this car? Car alarm with starter interrupt?

 

Have you checked the wires at the ignition switch and the starter enable relay. I would also check the purple wire to see if it might be grounding out somewhere. It goes from the starter solenoid to the P/N switch.

 

I have remote start on this car but i had it completly disconnected when it cranked today.

 

Sounds like a cross short. Do you have a wiring diagram to check to see if you have any extra wires? Possibly from an alarm or remote starter left over from a previous owner.

 

Sounds like the 2 wires that get connected together to activate the remote start, are getting connected somehow.

So how did I guess that this was a remote starter problem?

Because it nearly always is.

A stock wiring harness won't do this. The culprit is the remote start; either it itself, or the wiring that was hacked to install it.

About the only way to fix it is to very carefully examine the wire all the way from the starter going back toward the ignition switch; and verify that all foreign devices are removed from it, all damage to the wire properly repaired (solder & heat-shrink preferably); and everything put back the way the car came from the factory.

 

would it be feasible for a temp fix to get it home from college to work on it to put a master switch goin from the pos. bat. to the starter and once the car turns over cut that pos. terminal in order to prevent the starter from cranking?

 

DON'T hack on the wiring any more than it already is!!!! 2 hacks doesn't make one un-hack. Just trace the wires, find where they hacked in the remote starter, remove it, and repair the factory wiring as best you can. Even crimping it together with a butt splice is better than what you've got now. Above all, find the connection to battery that the remote start uses, and disconnect as close to the battery as possible.

Adding hack upon hack upon hack is a good way to end up with a car that won't start at all, or won't charge, or has intermittent ignition, or any of a thousand other electrical problems that totally disable it. Don't just sodomize it more than it already is; you'll only be making more work for yourself, and your car less reliable, in the long run.

 

they only problem with that idea is i would completly have to tear apart my dash to find my hidden alarm module then trace all the wires back while my car is sitting in a parking lot of my college and its snowing outside and I dont have nearly enough tools to accomplish anything. I dont have much to work with until i get it home.

 

Not a whole lot I can do about that. I'm just telling you like it is, not altering reality to suit whatever it is you want to hear. I don't have, or know of, a magic bullet to shoot at it that will make everything OK.

Fix it right, and have a reliable car; or hack it some more, and maybe not fix it at all, and maybe even install some extra new time bombs.

It's your car. I'm not the one that will be getting left stranded, you are, so do whatever seems best to you.

 

As long as your switch idea is a temporary hack to get you home to where you can fix it right, it is a good solution to your problem. It's almost like you a stranded on the side of the road in a snowstorm with no tools.

 

Alot of the people who install remote start are MORONS. Well I mean if you got it done at a place who installs window tint and radios and all that crap, most of the kids who work there think they are technicians because they can install radios..... truth be told they are jack asses who hack the crap out of everything they do.. They are glorified radio installers.

 

yes unfortunatly I am finding that out the hard way. Turns out the guy who put in my alarm was fired a week after the installation. GREAAAATTTT!

 

ok I need help. I was tracing all the wires back being ign. 1 sec. ign. 1 ign. 2 and starter wire from remote start does anyone know if ign. 1 and sec. ign 1 has to be connect for my alarm to work properly?

 

You should consult the company who manufactured your alarm. Maybe you should try the electronices part of the forum. there must be some wire gurus that lurk in those parts