A little over a week ago had an issue with my starter. It remained energized after I had started my truck. Turned the ignition off, took the key out and the starter remained energized and continued to turn the engine over. I had no tools in my truck and I guess the starter finally failed.


New remanufactured starter and new relay solenoid installed. Same problem occurred. Started remained energized after I hooked the battery up.


So today I took the negative battery cable and the power cable from the solenoid relay to the starter off the truck and inspected them. I found no problems. I also checked all the frame to body grounds and engine compartment grounds. I found no corrosion but I cleaned and reinstalled them.


Hooked the battery up and no issues. Started the truck 10 times in the next 30 minutes. No issues.


Was it one of the grounds or is there something else I should check to make sure the problem is fixed?




Also, while getting the power cables out I found a remanufactured tag on the engine block under the exhaust manifold. Anyone ever seen one like this?

 

• ultraranger , 10-11-2016 08:59 AM
  A starter staying engaged is often a result of a low battery charge (assuming the "S" and "I" wires are on the correct terminal posts). The low voltage puts burn marks on the starter solenoid contacts, making them stick together and not releasing the starter Bendix drive from the flywheel/flexplate.
  
  If this happens, you can usually smack the top of the solenoid and it will drop the solenoid contacts out and disengage the starter so that it isn't sitting there grinding on the ring gear teeth of the flywheel/flexplate.
  
  The remedy for this is usually a good, hot battery and a good starter solenoid --a bad ignition switch can also cause the starter to stay engaged after the key is moved from the "Start" position to the "Run" position.

 

There is only one explanation for what happened(barring a defective new solenoid). The ignition switch was still feeding power to the solenoid. All you would have done to stop the engine from turning over was pull that little slip on wire off the solenoid.

If this happens again, jump out and raise the hood and pull that little slip on wire off the solenoid. If that doesn't stop the starter from spinning, give the solenoid a few karate chops.

 

Thanks for the info.

 

Same thing happened to me - new BWD brand soleniod was no good out of the box.

 

On the OBS trucks, the Motorcraft Fender-Mounted relay states that replacing with an inferior brand may cause damage.

Hit the junkyard up and try and find one or replace with Motorcraft.

When it comes to cooling and ignition, I've found that sticking with Motorcraft will help you diagnose many problems.

 

I know this thread is old, but these trucks are still going. I had the save issue, where lights, door locks, radio and everything electrical worked normally, but once the glow plugs kicked on i had nothing. Cluster would click, starter was slow/ non existant, and voltage would drop. Vehicle would not attempt to start. Isolated each battery and found each battery by itself acted the same. Found my air compressor had been running on and off all night and battery CCA had dropped. Trickle charged both batteries for about an hour each, at 10a and finally got her started. Diesels are all about that battery life, and if you don't got it, it won't put out. Easiest place to start in any condition. BTW, my batteries are 3 months old.