[sparky]

It's never done this before, I'm still trying to get it running from a valve job but when I crank it over it sometime won't stop cranking even if the key is off, so I dart back to the battery to remove the neg cable to get it to quit. ?
could it be the starter or the selinoid?

 

[alfaloco]

Sounds like the solenoid is sticking, which will continuously crank the engine once the contacts are made from the hot leads directly from the battery. I've had it happen on some of the cursed LUCAS equipped cars in my past.

 

[Geezer]

Aside from sol just being old, low battery voltage will cause the contacts inside the sol to weld themselves together. I would replace the sol and also check to be sure that the ign switch hasn't fouled up some way. It also wouldn't hurt to clean up the battery cable connections. As a final check the battery voltage at the starter, it should be the same voltage as the battery. And if possible charge up the battery.

 

[Alfacliff]

some spica equipped cars have a problem with starter not shutting off due to "feedback" from the cold start solenoid.
please indicate what year car you have, the bosch cars didnt have this problem. a search should locate the fix for the problem.
cliff

 

[Andrew]

Can also be failing contacts in the ignition switch, especially if it picks up again when you re-hook up the battery.
Andrew

 

[lowmileage]

Like AlfaCliff (the electronical guru) says. I had to rewire mine - luckly I have a battery cut-off before I did the re-wire. Kinda crazy when it happens, isn't it

 

[sparky]

What is the diff between the years of the sloenoid and starters?, I noticed a price change from the '85 to the '86?