starter issue

just got my Rambler 6 back together. Went to start it and the starter keeps going with out the key. Bench tested it and it works fine. Put on new cables, same thing. Worked fine befor I had it apart to redo the head and paint the engine compartment. Wiring harness was stuffed inside the car. Can not see any thing wrong.

 

put up a pic of the starter if possible? or explain what type of solenoid or how the gear gets moved into the flywheel. Right now, it seems like wiring.

 

That would be a Delco starter. The solenoid on the starter is probably sticking. You can pull the starter then pull the cover off the solenoid. There is a round contact washer that connects the two big terminals on the back. It gets burned over time. Rotate the washer 90° so new metal is contacting the terminal heads, and clean off the terminal heads. Or get a new solenoid. That is most likely the problem. If not, you have something wired wrong.

Check the wiring first! There is a red wire that should be connected to the "B" terminal along with the battery wire. The green wire should go to the "S" terminal (the only small one). Hmm.... kinda hard to mess up the wiring! Could be the ignition switch is hanging up, but check the solenoid first. If that's okay I'd suspect the ignition switch.

 

fixed, and the car fired right up. I took it all apart and cleaned every thing, noticed the bendix retainer was not in it's groove. Lubed it all up and it works fine.

 

That would cause the solenoid or bendix drive to stick! Glad it was such an easy fix. Love it when things come together easy, hate it when something that should be/was supposed to be easy turns into a nightmare!!