Ok my starter started giving me problems with not starting and having to jiggle my key and pump the clutch. So being the reasonable man I am I bought a new starter and put in new wires to the battery. Now it turns over as soon as the battery is connected. The wire on the bottom wire of my starter stays energized when the battery is connected. I've tried removing the starter fuse and the ignition fuse and I've unplugged my ignition and it still tries to start. What is going on?!!!!

 

Stuck starter solenoid--- defective new starter

 

As millball says, the starter solenoid is closed (or closing). Before you conclude the solenoid is bad, assure that the solenoid wire is not "always hot." The easiest way to do that is to disconnect it, then hook up the battery. If the starter tries to turn over with the solenoid wire disconnected, then the solenoid IS stuck.

 

The wire is always hot. I can figure out how it's getting power to that wire. I've pulled fuses and disconnected the ignition and it's still doing it

 

Which one is the "starter" fuse? You haven't told us anything about your vehicle (year, transmission, ...), but most have a starter relay. http://web.archive.org/web/201204170.../2powersou.pdf (I'm told some early ('86-'88?) trucks don't have that relay.) If it's stuck closed, it will keep the B-W wire to the starter solenoid hot.

More likely, given that you've been "jiggling" the key, I'll guess that the ignition switch is shot. If pin 1 of the starter relay (just pull it out and use your multimeter on the socket) is hot with key-off, there's your problem. RockAuto has that switch for $24-$58. (and I believe it's Terrys87 who suggests that that switch is terribly at risk in those vehicles without the starter relay, and he advises installing an after-market relay to fix what he believes is a design flaw.)

As for fuses, the "ign" or "engine" fuses don't have anything to do with the starter. The only fuses in that circuit are the 40amp and 80amp. But removing either of those fuses is pretty much the same as disconnecting the battery.

 

I can't believe I forgot to say it's a 94 Toyota 6cyl 4x4. It's sitting at 341000 and I have had starter problem before but it turned out the post were the power wire from the battery comes and connects and it broke

 

Ok I figured it out. The wiring under my engine fuse box was all messed up. The wires under the starter relay were shorted together and as soon as I separated them and taped them off it fired up no problem and didn't try starting when the battery was hooked up. Should have looked there first but it was a newb mistake

 

Hi Folks,
My ignition switch ST1 contact intermittently gets stuck closed so starter engages flywheel while engine is running. Related to this thread but I moved details to my build thread here.

 

You can test your action going to the starter solenoid using a 12 volt test light. I have a couple of these, they are about the size of an ink pin with a metal probe on one end and a long wire with an alligator clip on the other end. You can make a test wire with a male stud terminal on one end to plug in to the small wire that goes to the starter. You can use a clothes pin to connect the bare wire to the probe. Since you are are dealing with positive voltage, you want to make sure you are not accidentally touching any metal with a bare connection...you could use electrical tape as a precaution. I was able to position the probe in a manner so that I could sit in the truck and turn the ignition key back and forth from run to start while watching the test light turn on and off. But a test light isn't going to be helpful for finding a voltage drop problem.