Hi ya'll ... newbie to the site. Live in Vancouver, BC, Canada. Got a '96 Dakota c/w V8 engine & Auto tranny. Been having some starting problems lately and hoping someone here can suggest what the problem might be. I'm pretty good with a wrench so generally fix my own stuff but this is one thing I've not ran across before.

The symptoms...
Sometimes when I turn the key it's like there isn't enuf juice to crank the engine. Flip the key off and on and eventually it cranks just fine and starts. Battery seems good as it does crank over pretty fast once it "catches" (so to speak)
This morning, it fired right up but the starter didn't disengage. I turned the key off, engine stopped but the starter continued to crank the engine.
I re-started it a couple times and after revving the engine, the starter finally disengaged.

Any ideas what's causing this??

Is there an easy fix?

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

Sounds like the solenoid mounted to your starter is trying to stay engaged at times.Remove your starter,and take it to a local starter/alternator shop,and let them check it out.The bendix in the nose of the starter will stay kicked out as long as their is power being sent to it from the solenoid.Just a simple suggestion.....

 

HI... thanks for the suggestion. That brings up the question of how is the solenoid still have power when I've turned off the ignition key? Or is the ignition switch only acting as a "relay" of sorts and once the solenoid has received that "relay" it then can continue to draw power from the battery if the internal electical contacts are sticking??