I was checking various electrical components of the VATS or Pass Key system on this 93 z when the starter took off running and wouldn't stop until I disconnected the battery. I mean "took off", as in turning off the key, taking it out, and still spinning, until I unhooked the battery "took off". Funny thing though is that the starter wasn't even engaged to the flywheel. It took me a second to figure out what the noise was cause it was just the sound of the starter motor running by itself!
What led up to this was when I was checking the current and such on the TDR ( the relay located next to the hatch release relay on the right of the glove box). This was because of the problem I posted about in a prior thread I started ( see; VATS issue? please help, for details). I was in the process of figuring out which wire was doing what, since they're all yellow. Actually, three are yellow and are the same exact size, fairly beefy as car wiring goes, and one is a smaller yellow with black stripe. I had actually got the car to crank when I jumped two of the larger wires across. It only ran a second until the fuel ran out of the injectors, but it cranked. I thought I was getting somewhere towards figuring out how to bypass the relay, as described in one of the tutorials on shbox (and honestly, none if this was from any of the info he provides. It was my lack of understanding all this new-to-me VATS crap). I had a lead from my meter on the yellow and black wire, and the other end grounded out. When I turned the key, the start engaged momentarily. I only had it turned to start for a quick second to see what it was doing. But when I let off of the key I heard this humming sound, and you guessed it, stood up to see WTH, and discovered it was the starter spinning. I reached in and turned the key all the way off and removed them. Still spinning. So, I grab my little wrench and take off the negative cable from the battery, which of course killed it. After a minute of thinking "holy crap what the hell", I touched the cable back to the battery and the starter immediately start spinning again. Not engaging to the flywheel like it was trying to turn the engine over, but just the starter running.
And as you probably can reason from all this by now, my question is: What the hell is going on here??? What did I do to this damn thing? I haven't laid a hand on it since this happened yesterday evening. It was getting late, and I figured I screwed with it enough at the time, to say the least.
Can anyone please provide any insight at all.
Thanks

 

Loose or broken drive link or lever? Disconnect the [purple wire at the starter and try again. If it spins, the problem is internal to the starter.

 

Ok. Good idea. Thanks