Starter / Ignition Woes

[one4house]

This morning, I left for work and my starter fired on while I was driving out of the parking lot. I immediately turned the car off and pull over. I did a quick check of the starter wiring and found no abnormalities.

When I restarted the car the starter would not quit turning even with the car already started. I had to run the car for a 1/2 block grinding away to get it back in it's parking spot. After that I just took my car truck to work.

Is random starter engagement a sign of the ignition going out? I have never had this happen. The starter is wired with a relay looped in to reduce the amount of wiring. Know as the "hot start relay." That has been in place and working fine for a month or two.

Looking for a little help here.

I got home at lunch today, fired the car up and everything seems to be fine. I will drive it to work and see what happens.
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[KTPhil]

Could be the switch or the hot start relay. Somehow power is getting to the starter terminal. I'd eyeball the wiring and then suspect the relay. Which relay are you using?

[Donnie strickland]

Do you use the automatic starter?
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71 Elm Green FI A/T Squareback

[one4house]

[Air-Cooled Head]

Maybe unrelated, but: How is turning the key? Stiff?

On my Square, particularly when it's cold out, I have to manually turn the key back to run, from the start position. Otherwise, I experience the symptom you describe. Not so bad during Summer months.

I'm pretty sure the ignition switch needs disassembly & lube, but it's low on the priority list.
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[one4house]

It turns and returns ok. I might take it apart today and check it out though. I'm starting to think it is ignition related.
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My Old 66 Squareback
My Old 66 Beetle
My Old 70 Squareback

[one4house]

How do I get the ignition cylinder out of the column?

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My Old 64 Field Find
My Old 66 Squareback
My Old 66 Beetle
My Old 70 Squareback

[ataraxia]

[Air-Cooled Head]

I hope you have the little plastic cap that covers the wires in the last pic.
It holds the disc thing in contact with whatever is inside. When not tight, problems follow. BTDT.

If I recall, those caps are difficult (at best) to acquire.
In desperation, I installed at T1 column/ignition. Not "period correct", but works flawlessly.
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[ataraxia]

[one4house]

ataraxia, thanks for the breakdown. I cannot figure out how to get the blinker switch off. I'll look closer at it this afternoon.

Air-Cooled Head, I do have the cap. It was off at this point.

My short-term fix is going to be removing wire 50 from the steering column wire grouping and wiring it to a switch already in the car for the fog lights. I no longer have to worry about high amp draw from this wire because I have installed the starter relay by the battery.

Taking power away from the switch for initiating the starter is all I need right now. "Keyed power" is still working fine. It was starter signal that was not turning off.

Then I will take my time to source a new switch or a steering column to get it fixed right. I don't want to leave a hack in place forever, but I do want to get my car back on the road for this beautiful Texas spring weather.
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My Old 64 Field Find
My Old 66 Squareback
My Old 66 Beetle
My Old 70 Squareback

[MonT3]

If you are planning on removing the ignition, please take your time and look your column over before pulling it out. Every persons experience with this is different. I considered this surgery and it was a bit stressful but I’ll share with you what I did. The wires on the left side will hold you up from removing the intact ignition cylinder unless the wires are out as in ataraxias first link pics, second page at comment #9 pic. I had a really hard time trying to get the wires out. I ended up heating the soldered points with a soldering pen and removed the wired from the posts (after making a small sketch and documenting which color wires go to which numbered pos). That’s what I ended up doing in trying to get the cylinder out. I did this because each time I was trying to place the cylinder back in after putting the inner pieces in place, the brown cap kept moving on me while trying to place it in place. It wouldn’t sit correctly in its’ spot. This caused the inner springs, cover plate and paper to move around and no longer line up. When I had the brown cap out along with the cylinder, I was able to line everything up, place the cap in the proper place and stamp the little armature piece as depicted in the manuals image to lock the brown cap in place. I was then able to insert the whole thing back into the column and solder the wires back in place. It’s a bit scary process since I didn’t have much to go by but with some of the references on his site and help from others in the community, I was able to get this thing back together. For what it’s worth, I when I was testing my electrical system and I turned the key for the first time and turned my starter, I knew I had succeeded in rebuilding my ignition that had blown up on me. Last week, I fired my car up for the first time in 2 ½ years of rebuilding! Good luck and please take your time if you are going to take this on.
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MonT3
67 Squareback
64 Squareback
63 Squareback
Engine rebuild
Trailer rebuild

[ataraxia]

[Air-Cooled Head]

[ataraxia]

[EverettB]

[MonT3]

Any updates on this??
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MonT3
67 Squareback
64 Squareback
63 Squareback
Engine rebuild
Trailer rebuild

[one4house]