Starter won't disengage

Mar 21, 2007 5 Replies
B

For the past 10 days I've had trouble getting the starter to do more than click: Usually I can solve this by moving the (auto) shifter through the gears and then starting in neutral, sometimes it takes a few tries.



Yesterday it did something different: the engine started, and there was a horrible sound, so after 10 seconds I shut down and pulled out the key. The engine continued to turn over. I thought it was dieseling but that didn't make sense. It was the starter continuing to turn the flywheel even though the ignition was off and the key pulled out.



I finally stopped it by pulling off the neg. battery cable. When I reattached the cable, the starter turned the flywheel again.



What is wrong, and how can I fix it? Thanks.


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B

What year Subaru? This is interesting. The last time I encountered such a problem was a 74 ford pickup... Check for the obvious bare wires for starter route?

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K

Sounds like the solenoid and its contacts are wearing out.

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A

Bare wires on the starter route.....jesus christ.....

It's the bearing race(throwout bearing) in the starter.it has failed and thats what caused the hard starting and a faint "Click" when you hit the key. Now it's stuck on the armature shaft and wont allow it to return. This keeps the contacts closed and the "Bendix" engaged. Pull the starter off and see that the gear is at the end of its travel.Have the starter rebuilt. Simple troubleshooting tests....but just as easy to pull the starter out.

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N

This one sounds like a "welded solenoid". When the contacts get worn, there's often a pit on one side and a bump on the other. There's not much metal left to dissipate the heat, so cranking causes the bump and pit to heat up enough to "weld" the contacts closed.

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