I have a 383 with M/T and a mini starter. The car is fresh out of resto and has 56 miles on it. I went to start the car today and even after the car started th starter stayed engaged. I turned the key off and then on and it still stayed engaged.

I disconnected the neg battery cable which stopped the starter. In the meanwhile the positive battery cable fried so bad it will have to be replaced.

One fella said it could be the mini starter. He said some have metal shaving left in the case due to poor manufacturing and the shaving short out and cause problems such as I had.

Any thoughts, advice, etc? I was wondering if anyone else has had this issue.

Thank You,
Bob

before you take it off see if you can see if the tooth engagement is too close so you'll know if the prob is there or a mechanical or electrical prob inside the starter

For the positive cable to fry, the solenoid (relay)
had to be engaged to pass power... change the relay

Seen it a dozen times with Denso starters in the Toyota shop,mainly cheap reman starters from volume distributors,parts houses etc...
There are two contacts in the starter and when the coil(solenoid)is energized the plunger ring makes contact with them.In some cases I have seen the wrong contact installed and it catches the plunger ring and it cant release it.When you get the starter out pull the steel cover with the three screws off.When you look at the plunger and contacts it should be evident what type of failure has occurred.I can get you the correct factory Denso contacts if you need them just drop me a PM
Gus

a bad ground on your neg. battery cable to the block will also keep the starter going.but like said check to see if the starter stud is hitting the block. brad

Thank you all for the advice, I very much appreciate it.

Happy Holidays!!

I'm betting its the starter relay too.

Robert has you on the right trail, the relay shorted or the drive not releasing will cause your problem. It is easy to check the relay with a light or ohmeter. There should be no connection between the B post (bolt) to the SOL post (to the solenoid). If the starter is jammed, it probably still is jammed with the Bendix drive still extended. Drop the starter and check.
Craig

Unless the battery cable is really undersized, a fried cable would have me looking for a mild-contact short to ground, like could happen with the extra terminal connections that the ones for the Magnum engines have.

A quick head-poke under the car might give a conclusive answer on that one.

Friend had same problem on his 383,was ign switch

As soon as I get a chance to work on the car I will post what I find. Working my holiday "honey do" list so it may be awhile.

Thank you all for your input.

I just wanted to provide and update to this issue.

I found what it was that made the starter stay engaged. Turns out the positive cable where it connects to the starter was in contact with the headers.

So basically the headers melted the plastic casing which ended with the pos wire grounding out and melting the red cable which then melted the starter relay wire which caused the relay not to shut off.

So there was nothing actually wrong with the starter or the relay, it was poor installation of the cable to the starter.

I replaced the starter, cable and the relay since I had everything and she is running like a champ now.

Thanks everyone!!