Bodywork, Paint, Interior, Trim, & Wiring

My wife and I took the "A" out for a drive and I parked it in my garage facing my custom trailer. I put the car in reverse, switched off the distributor, the fuel pump (separate switches) turned off the key which simply unlocks the steering column and provides power to the Dakota dash.

A couple hours later entered the garage and the car had moved forward (incline of garage is to rear) and had impacted the trailer and shoved it sideways into the wall. I pushed in the clutch for the car to coast backwards and the car started on it's own. It ran for about a minute until the carb was starved for fuel. The engine died but the starter continued to turn. I could do nothing to cut power. None of the toggle switches responded and after a few minutes the battery was depleted.

The day before I'd replaced the alternator and ran a heavier gauge wire to the starter. The car was on a rack and the wiring was properly connected.

WTF

Any ideas?

Definitely haunted. Pretty standard for British though.

Jim

Here's a WAG for yah Jeb.

The battery or power lead to the starter bolts onto the solenoid very close to the start lead. Possibly it moved enough to energize the starter. On systems that use a ballast resistor for the ignition, the starter bypasses the resistor when cranking. This supplies full power to the ignition while the starter operates. Which would allow the car to run with the ignition switch off.

Other than that it was probably just caused by FM.

Live like you mean it.
Fred

Hello Jeb, I had something like that happen to me she would just start turning over and not stop till the battery was dead or I pulled the lead off. Now mine is a chevy ls small block but it turned out to be the solenoid on the new starter. hope you figure it out soon good luck.

Fred's scenario sounds the most likely, since as you say it was stopped and doing nothing abnormal. Electrical problems tend to be very logical in nature, either on or off. Something is making the connection. Look closely at your starter circuit, something there is allowing current to pass.

Jim