Heard a weird one the other day.

[donsrods]

Lady called into a car show on the radio. They have a stickshift car and had it parked in a particular spot in their driveway. A few days later they found it had moved about 30 feet and no one in the family had moved it. The car was locked, no keys in the ignition, and the parking brake was on. The shifter was in reverse and the car had backed up that 30 foot distance.

The guys on the show said as strange as this sounds, they have seen this before. Sometimes a starter will fail on it's own and start cranking the engine, even with the key off. If the car is in gear the car will move. She said the battery was also now dead and they said what probably happened was the starter was trying to move the car against the parking brake and it was able to move it that 30 feet before the battery died.

Sounds crazy, but I can see how it could happen. Makes me wonder if I should reconsider leaving my 27 in gear in the shop?

Don

 

[Snake Farm]

I believe it. Never had the exact thing happen but years ago my wife stopped at the neighbors one evening on her way home and when she got back in the car and started it the starter stayed engaged, just the starter motor not the solenoid. She drove the short distance to our house and when she shut the car off the starter kept spinning until I unhooked the battery. I did the normal wiggling of wires, whacking on it with a hammer etc. and every time I hooked the battery back up it would take off spinning. I took it off and took it to my starter/alternator guy for a rebuild and he said I can rebuild it for you but there's nothing wrong with it [S He showed me some rust on the mounting surface and told me to grind it clean and do the same to the engine block and I would be fine. Did just that and the same starter was still on the car when I sold it. He said that if the starter to block ground gets bad that is what they do. How many starter shops would tell you that nowadays

 

[sneakysnake]

Snake sounds like yours welded the solenoid contacts together.I dont guess the other one was parked on a incline? Its possible if the wires had been hot or rubbed together to energize the solenoid,even though there is power to it all the time the contacs are spring loaded in a normal open but could possibly have a weak spring and let the contacts touch.

 

[Dr Crankenstein]

Talk about an electrical gremlin! I've seen a starter stay engaged like Snake Farm says, but never just fire up on its own. [S

Sounds like a good "start" for another thread, "Automotive Mysteries. The Strange and Unusual".

 

[donsrods]

One time my 23 did that, I started the engine and the starter stayed engaged. Had to run and get a hammer to smack the body of the starter with and it disengaged. Never did it again for some reason.

Don

 

[sneakysnake]

Low voltage will cause them to sometimes weld the solenoid contacts. Crossing the S and I wires on the solenoid will keep one engaged too. LOL

 

[dmw56]

Had a friend park on a steep driveway and found it parked in the middle of the street. Rain the day before froze and the car slide down the driveway.

 

[Rev Tex Devlle]

i worked with this guy who bought a car out of the impound where we work, he was told the water pump was bad,mso he went out to monkey with the belts to see if the shaft was wobbly and when he touched the water pump the cars turned over and cut 2 fingers off at the first joint,!

 

[Willowbilly3]

I knew a guy once who had an old Scout fire up and drive through the garage door on it's own.

 

[440shorty]

Self-starters

Came out of the library when I was a kid - a Ford wagon was sitting in the parking lot, cranking furiously with no one in it (bad starter solenoid).

In the 70s at the transmission shop I used to work at. The owner hopped into a Jeep Wagoneer in the shop and started it. The cruise control was stuck - the gas pedal dropped to the floor wide open, the Jeep took off, climbed the air bumper jack, and hit the block wall about 4 feet up off the floor, even though he had both feet on the brake! His partner had just walked past, in front of the Jeep, and was narrowly missed. Scary stuff. At least the wall was not a bearing wall, because there was a big hole in it!

For those of us in the DC area, the Jeep belonged to Pat Goss, radio personality.

440shorty

NOTE: drum parking brakes are marginally to totally ineffective in reverse.

 

[hotrod preacher]

it can happen!

my first experience of that sort was a riding lawnmower that decided to leave the shed on its on! if i had not seen it with my own eyes i probably would not have believed it

 

[donsrods]

Don

 

[Sam_Fear]

We had one of our old yard spotters at work catch fire because the starter engaged and caught the grease on fire. It couldn't move though - air brakes. It used a Ford type separate solenoid - we never could figure how or why it engaged, but it was real obvious it was the starter.

THE CAR

 

[echnidna]

I've encountered the odd ignition/starter switch track across the internal contacts and start engines when there was no one nearby, usually only happens in hot weather plus I've only struck it on diesels. Its a good reason to never park in gear.