Bad Starter Relay?

[rickwrench]

So, I finally got around to replacing the automatic steering column in the '62 Squire after the T5 swap I did last summer. I've been driving around with both shifters and having to put the car in "park" (ha ha) to start it.. The car has been in the garage for the last couple of weeks and the battery was disconected. I removed the neutral safety switch, column, etc., and re-connected all the wires (correctly, I triple checked). The nuetral safety switch is just an add on bypass to the regular ignition wiring harness. I recharged the battery and hooked everything back up, got in the car and turned the key to just the on position, not start, and the engine started cranking. I turned the ignition off, said "what he hell..." and turned the key to the accessory postion and the engine started cranking again. I rechecked all the wires according to the wiring diagram and everything is right. I popped out the ignition switch and tested to see if it was shorted, but it's fine.
Here's my question; when a starter relay fails, does it fail open?

 

[Anonymous]

it can go both ways. did you try to crank it before you charged the battery? that will sometimes cause the contacts to weld together if the battery is low. unhook 2 of the wires at the old neutral saftey and see if that does it. if it doesnt, try the other 2. you might unhook the excitor wire from the starter relay and swap it with the other wire, just in case they got hooked up backwards some how.

 

[rickwrench]

Yep, I hadn't driven for a while and the battery was almost dead when I tried to move it into the garage. The relay brappity-brapped a few times and then the battery was all dead. Ended up just pushing it into the garage. So, the contacts probably welded then. Crap, such is life when using 40 year old parts. I'll get a new one tomorrow.
Thanks,
Rick(wrench)