This nasty surprise was pretty bad. I have a water pump that needs to be replaced soon and I went out and started the car. Heard a grinding noise and thought the water pump finally blew up. I tried disengaging the engine and it wouldn't respond. The grinding I was hearing was the starter. I finally got it to stop by pulling the coil wire and then the battery cable. It was still trying to start.
Usually its the starter solenoid on the passenger side inner fender. Very easy fix. Make sure and get the one for an automatic transmission and make sure you hook up the neutral safety switch wire.
You're right. It was the solenoid. *taps*
Overloaded. O_o
I replaced it with one off of a dead '84 Eagle. I'll have to order a premium part for this since no one around here has the exact part I need.
I wouldn't be at all surprised if the ECM goes next. I really need to just pull the engine and start replacing anything that has been caked with random elements across the past 30 years.