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Good morning, we are new the the Packard world and just bought our first Packard. We bought a 55 Patrician that had been sitting for 2-3 years. We were able to get it started before we had purchased it and started and drove it up on the rollback to take back home.

Once we got home, we tried to start it to back it into our garage and now the starter just keeps spinning with the ignition off. The only way to stop it is to disconnect the battery. From what weve read in a service manual, I think we have the Delco starter? (Please correct us if we are wrong, we are still learning). Any help or advice would be appreciated. Thank you

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The starter solenoid must be stuck. The starter comes off the engine with just a couple bolts. I think there are disassembly instructions in the service manual and it's not too complicated. From there you can see what might cause it to stick.

BTW the Literature Archive is on the left.

You should have the Delco starter which has a pinion shift solenoid with internal contacts operated by the shift plunger that do the work of connecting the battery to the starter and providing the motor power. I am wondering if the solenoid plunger has stuck in the solenoid bore or possibly a spring needed to bring the plunger back out has broken and the internal contact is keeping the starter active. If the protective rubber boot at the end covering the plunger is missing or damaged debris could have gotten inside the bore to bind the plunger.

Another possibility is arcing welded the plunger activated copper contact plate to one of the contacts so it cannot release. If motor is just spinning and there is no indication the Bendix and pinion has stayed out or is trying to engage the ring gear on the flex plate to start the engine that contact area might be a good place to look.

If all the solenoid items check out about the only other thing I could think of is somehow or somewhere the brown starter wire coming from ign sw and thru the neutral safety switch might be touching a powered wire so solenoid is being commanded to energize.

There is a remote chance it could be a bad ignition switch too. I once had a power seat switch on a slightly newer car overheat and carbonize the insulator which was then a conductor. I had just parked the car at work and was walking away when something told me to turn around where I saw the interior filling with smoke!

That said, I think Howard’s ideas are more likely.

G'day AJboy123,
to PackardInfo,

I invite you to include your '55 Patrician in PackardInfo's Packard Vehicle Registry..

Disconnect the wire from the small terminal on the solenoid.

If the problem persists, then the issue is a stuck solenoid.

If the problem goes away, it is a stuck/shorted ignition switch.

If it points to the ignition switch, you can double verify that using a volt meter or test light on that disconnected wire. It should only have power when the ignition switch is in the start position and not in any other position.

If you try Kev's suggestion the single brown wire on a small terminal would be the one to remove. The other small terminal with a single green wire supplies a solid 12volts to the coil during starting. When solenoid is relaxed and just sitting that wire will not be in operation but will have approximately 6-8 volts on it.

Thank you all for the advice and help. We got the starter pulled down and noticed the armature was sticking/getting stuck. We cleaned it up and greased it up a little. We tested it before we reinstalled and it didn’t spin when the battery was hooked back up. Upon reinstalling, the same issue as before. We are having it taken to our friends shop to look into it further on their drive on instead of us on the ground on our backs. At this point, bad solenoid? We did notice that the boot was ripped

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That starter is in the retracted position, so I don't know how it could be stuck engaged unless there is something broken internally. Are you HEARING it when the engine is running, or it is just cranking nonstop with the battery attached?

The operation is simple: the solenoid (an electromagnet) pulls the iron plunger inward when you turn the key. When all the way in, the plunger hits a rod that pushes a plate connecting a pair of contacts; this energizes the starter motor. Any one of these moving mechanisms could be clogged or rusty.

I recently got an Auto Lite starter going again that looks like it belongs in a scrap pile. Like, pitted with rust. But it was nearly new internally so I just had to free up all the external parts.

Disassembly and reassembly instructions are here:packardinfo.com/xoops/html/downloads/servicemanual5556/Sect08_Electrical.pdf

It could be as Howard said any the solenoid isn't retracting after starting and what your hearing is the motor spinning the bendix with fly wheel ring gear