Here's what happened:

I pulled the connector to the circuit board in my '73 1.7L, then pulled the fuse and relays to check continuity. When I put everything back together, I connected the battery and the thing turns over! The key is not in the ignition. What did I do? Help!

Sounds like you put one of the relays in wrong.

Clearly you are omitting a portion or two of the story where you jumped or potentially soiled yourself

I was wearing dark britches....

I thought the relays could only go in one way??

Check that the connector on the relay board is in correctly. You can get them one pin off.

I know I would have had to clean the garage and probably my wife's car...

I bumped the starter once while under the car installing wires on the starter... that will wake you up!

chek that the wire on your starter isn't frayed or something too... if there's a stray wire on the solenoid it could reach over to the ignition and 'hotwire' the car.

Well, I've pulled all relays and fuse on the circuit board and it is still doing it.

When I pulled the main harness plug off, a small piece of plastic cracked on the harness plug (T14 connector?) near the #13 pin area. Could something be "jumping" between the two terminals (last two on the right)?

Yeah, that's what I thought initially--although seems to be lining up okay? I'll check again.

You didn't do anything with the wiring at the starter?

The starter wire is pin 1 at the forward connector on the relay board, pin 6 on the rearward connector on the relay board, and is also connected to both rearward FI connector pins.

Thanks for the diagram--could I have reversed the FI connector?

BUMP

Made sure things are hooked up correctly on the relay board....

What would make the starter stick "On?" when connecting the battery cables?

Either a stuck ignition switch or starter solenoid?

Any particular wires that could be crossed (hot-wired)?

the ones on the solenoid are the only ones I can think of... the big battery wire could short over to the trigger wire...

do you have another starter you can try?

Doesn't seem to be the ignition switch (unplugged it).

The only strange thing that I noticed was that the main power to the solenoid was touching the lower tab from the solenoid. I adjusted it so they weren't touching. I wonder if I fried something? It didn't make a difference...

I don't have another starter. Can I just order a new solenoid?

I dunno if you can buy them separate or not. you could probably buy a cheap used starter that works fine tho

or you could bench test the starter... make sure that it IS the culprit before you replace it.

How could anyone possibly think the relays or fuses on the board could have anything to do with this problem? The Cap'n

Mabe he should pull the yellow wire of the solenoid and see if it still starts - if so solenoid jammed in maybe !

Pull the yellow wire and see if the problem goes away.

Yeah, I was thinking of checking the yellow wire. Maybe banging on the solenoid too...

Thanks for the comment, Cap'n--I got a chuckle.

Yellow wire pulled from solenoid--does not start on its own...

Relay board fried?? I'll test it out...

I had a similar issue when my cold start injector was plugged in

Must have been back feeding somewhere. Doesn't matter anymore with the megasquirt. Don't use that injector.

Pull the rearward connector from the relay board and check pin six on the board for 12v (you have a voltmeter/multimeter, right?) when you connect the battery.

If it doesn't have power, your problem is in that harness.
If it does have power, pull the forward connector from the relay board and check pin 1 in the connector for 12v when you connect the battery.

If it doesn't have power, your problem is in the relay board.
If it does have power, your problem is likely in the key switch.

Key switch disconnected -- Engine Cranks when cables connected.

FI Harness disconnected from relay board -- Engine cranks

New (used in good condition) relay board connected -- Engine cranks

Didn't check for 12V on front or rear connector yet.

Yellow wire disconnected from starter -- Engine does not crank.

I'm stumped--maybe I will change the starter and see what happens.

I doubt it will help. I'd be looking more at the relay board.

The problem started when you unplugged and plugged in the connectors on the relay board. Those are your suspects.

Make sure the wire colors in the connectors match up with the ones on the wiring diagram. If you get a hot wire (usually red) where that yellow wire should be on the front connector, you'll get exactly the symptoms you are describing.

Check for voltage at the connectors. Check that the wires are in the right places.

--DD

I sounds to me like you were trying to fix another problem when you put this one one the car. What were you originally fooling around on the relay board trying to fix?

I think maybe this problem was put on the car before you started checking out the relay board.

It didn't crank (was normal) until I unplugged the 14 pin from the relay board and went to plug it back in. I'm investigating a cracked connector--hopefully something is associated with it... (it cracked as I was removing it (and I thought I was gentle...)).

Will work on it tonight...

How many of you were banking on the fact that I'm a freaking moron?

Connector reversed. Problem solved.

Sorry to waste your time but thanks for the encouragement...

The connector probably cracked when you forced it on backward. You are learning like everyone else did. Part of the learning process is avoiding making a problem worse than it was when you started. Just write it up as a lesson learned from not paying enough attention and also how much more time it cost to figgure it out later. We usually remember the costly mistakes better. This is from someone thats made a few in 40 years of trouble shooting electro-mechanical problems on cars and business machines. Mostly when it cost you money is when you remember it the best.

Yeah, the connector cracked as I was pulling it upward to remove... I didn't think I put a whole lot of force on it, but it cracked anyway... For some reason, the cable twisted to make it look like it was supposed to go back on the 'wrong' way... Then I noticed the plastic "cradle" on the relay board for the harness itself...

Well, the one good thing was that I learned about how the relay board works... I guess it wasn't all a waste of time.

Now to figure out if my fuel pump is getting 12V.

K