Yesterday I had a fun day of off-roading in my 94 s10 Blazer. Hit some awsome trails, some hills, and some mud. When we were finished I figured I would stop at the car wash on the way home, and spray the thing off. So, I sprayed up under the fenders, and all around, and knocked all the mud off. When finished, I hopped in and cranked the ole Vortec 4.3 over. It started but the starter would NOT disengage for nothing...I turned the key off and removed it from the ignition and it was still turning the engine over. So I put the key in and turned the ingnition back on and it fired back up, but again, the starter was still engaged. So I turned the key off and the engine shut down again, but the starter was still engaged. Finally, in a panic, I grabbed a pair of plyors and disconnected the negative battery cable and the starter FINALLY kicked out. So, I reconnected the battery cable, started the thing, and drove home. When I got home, I started it and shut it off a number of times, and I had no problems. What happened? What would have caused this? Is it ok to drive?

Thanks guys for all your input.....

 

Wow, that's a good one. The only thing I can think of is the ignition switch. Make sure the boot is good and tight around your steering column so no mud and water can get in there. I think that's a solid seal tho. not sure.

 

Yeah I checked it and it looks ok. Only thing I can think that happened is when I sprayed under the fender on the passenger side I got the starter solenoid wet and when I went to crank it over, it shorted out. But water shouldn't cause that at all. Maybe it was just a freak thing that happened....

 

I'd say just a friek thing. Most likely the solenoid got stuck. Should be fine to drive. If it happens again maybe you need to clean out the contacts.

 

Actually I guess it could do that. Water is a conductor. Probably wouldn't be enough to activate the starter by itself, but could maybe hold it in once you activated it with the key. Makes sense.

 

Yeah, you are right, water should deffinately not have caused it...especially after I had been in water off-roading all day. I checked out the contacts and they look ok, but if it happens again, I will look deeper into it. Thanks for your input....

 

Ive had that happen before on cars, maybe 2 times. Both times Im like "What the heck is happening" and then turn it off and on a couple times then it stops and works normal for years. Dont think water was a factor in my occurances, but it was weird and didnt happen again.

 

Yeah it was deffinately a wierd thing, never had it happen before. It hasn't done it since, so I guess I won't worry about it right now......thanks guys!