So i went to start my car (86 iroc)to let it run / idle for a bit and it was having a hard time starting. figured maybe alittle older gas and older battery. anywho, it fired up and i let it run for a bit. turned it off and for whatever reason i ended up starting it again alittle later, anywho, the keeps trying to turn over / starter keeps going. so i stopped and turned the key off, but it kept trying to turn over. i took the key out and it STILL kept going. i had to disconnect the battery cable to make it stop.

The first things that come to mind are starter sticking, ignition switch or starter relay. anything else i could be missing? or is there a solution to this that im sure SOMEONE else has come across.

 

Likely a stuck solenoid, but possibly shorting in the ignition switch or wire harness.

Since the '86 has no start relay like some later models, that is not a concern.

 

My '92 Lumina did exactly what you described years ago.

To isolate the problem to the starter (eliminate the ignition switch as the problem), you can use one of those remote starter button things and start the engine using that. When I did this, the starter behaved exactly as if I had used the key.

I swapped out the starter and that fixed the problem. I didn't bother tearing into the old starter to find out why it failed.