Jfkingd

Check the hot cable down near the starter.
Years ago on an old Mustang had the hot cable rub through and ground out on the A-arm — caused the starter to run.

449er

Wait, I am going into the garage now to take mine out of gear

Cooter Tech

Get some aircraft wheel chocks and chains that’ll hold her down!

Narddog

Then yalls ebrake needs fixed, ASAP. I've had my vette parked on some pretty steep inclines and my car didn't budge. If it's not strong then it's a huge safety hazard and you'll be the next creator of a thread like this when your car rolls down a hill into something.

Narddog

Also an extremely dumb idea. You should always leave your car in gear (reverse or first), and with the ebrake pulled. You're relying 100% on the ebrake at that point when you have another fail-safe essentially at your disposal since those two gears have the highest ratios.

Bruze

Or the guys who've already got their hoods up to cool the engine, maybe they should just yank their engine out each time they park it.

gbrtng

The "start" button would not respond because the fob was elsewhere. My guess is an electronic gremlin in the RCDLR (the chattering relay circuit in the middle of the dashboard) or associated circuitry. The starter is cycled on for 15 seconds (I think) and then times out for a while to let the starter cool off. Was there a radio frequency interference (RFI) event like nearby lightning that might have triggered the event?

dr_gallup

My ebrake works very well thank you very much and both my parking spot at home and at work are dead flat. The C6 parking brake is quite strong if it's working properly, there is another active thread at the moment about how to fix it if it's not. If I ever park on a hill I know enough to leave it in gear AND have the wheels turned to the curb. But I'm not going to do that on level ground.

gn85

I'm really sorry for your misfortune. This really does sound like a one time 'fluke'.

Does the car have any modifications? Car alarm? Headers? Etc?

Considering what you described, I think the starter must have a fault or a short somewhere energized the solenoid.

Best of luck and please update us as to your findings/results.

Narddog

It's a safety precaution that hurts nothing so why not just do it? I knew the flat ground thing would come up, but I also bet the OP wasn't expecting his starter to start up on it's own and drive his car away.

C6ness

That would make for a good Farmers Insurance commercial. Hall of Claims. Ghost drove and wrecked a corvette and we covered it.

hmmmm16417

They know a thing g or two, because they've seen a thing or two...
We are farmers ....bum da-bum bum bum ba-dum

Hahahaha

C6 Snowboarder

one could do that -- Also another idea would be whenever you park it -- jack it up and remove the Tires -- two good things happen -- it can't move and it also would cool off the brakes quicker and with the hood up - one could sleep well at night knowing full well the Corvette has not been ridden hard and put away WET.

ToomRaider

I know how I would troubleshoot it.
Start with the solenoid trigger wire. Disconnect it and if the starter keeps going, it's a starter/Solenoid issue. If it stops, reconnect then replace the relay. If it still keeps going, then it's an ECU issue.
Weird problem but that is how I would troubleshoot it.

FatsWaller

If there is any doubt that the starter motor can generate enough torque through the drivetrain to overcome the e-brake, consider this:

I looked around on the net a bit, and it seems like the starter itself can generate around 150 ft lbs of torque.

I'm not sure how many teeth there are on the starter pinion (I've seen 11 or 12), so let's go with 12. 11 would make the final value even larger.

Assume the flywheel ring gear has 153 teeth.
Base m6 first gear ratio is 2.66 : 1
Diff ratio is 3.42 : 1.

The various gear ratios end up multiplying the torque, so we have 150 * (153/12) * 2.66 * 3.42 = 17398 (rounded).

So, over 17000 ft lbs of torque. Now, I know there is going to be some loss due to engine compression, friction, etc, but still........

I don't think the e-brake is any match for that kind of torque.

If you don't like any of the numbers, plug in your own - it's still going to be a large value.

dr_gallup

Because if it's in neutral I don't have to worry about starting it in gear. Gravity has been very reliable for me.

Bruze

Great idea! Also, if you store the wheels in your bedroom then your car would be pretty much theft-proof.

I will refrain from making any comments about my past GFs.

Robbo09

Original Poster here. Wow guys, I really appreciate everyone’s feedback and help! You are awesome

The issue is being investigated now, so I will make sure to keep everyone updated as I find out more.


Some further details for what it is worth:

• The car is completely stock, other than Corsa extreme exhaust and an x pipe that was installed shortly after purchase (years and years ago)
• No alarm system, no remote starting system, no aftermarket electronics, nothing
• The emergency brake /ebrake/handbrake was pulled UP. It was on/activated to keep the car in place, even though it was on a flat surface in the garage
• The key fob was far away from the car, UNTIL I heard the noise and saw what was happening. Then I grabbed the key and went to chase it down outside. When I tried to shut the car “off” it didn’t response, and same for when I tried to “turn it on” with gas, the push button start was unresponsive to any input, even though the key fob was in my pocket
• The neutral vs first gear debate - I was always told to leave in a low gear to act as a second parking brake, and avoid roll away accidents. I had something like that happen in my mustang previously... In hindsight you could make an argument in this particular case, I guess – but I also wonder if it were in neutral, perhaps something may have burned up in that case, and started a fire… that could be equally bad or worse
• The car had a new battery, only a few months old
• The weather the morning of, and the day/night before was completely clear. No thunderstorms or anything
• Also, I believe with the Z51 package, you get an even lower gear ratio on the transmission and the differential

AORoads

Seems like you may be correct (not that I doubted): see post 55 by FatsWaller.

C6 Snowboarder

That is even better -- one step further to full security- Store the wheels in Bedroom with GF -- and you sleep in a garage with the FOB