94 mercruiser alpha one 3.0LX starter wont stop anytime battery is connected

I put my boat in the water and turned the key to start. The motor started right up but the starter wont stop cranking until i unhook the battery. Now when i hook up the battery, the starter runs all of the time. The engine only starts when the key is in the on position. I have verified the wiring using the diagrams on this site. I have tapped on the solonoid. No luck.....any ideas? Thanks in advance

Re: 94 mercruiser alpha one 3.0LX starter wont stop anytime battery is connected

Disconnect the battery. Remove the yellow/red striped wire from the starter solenoid on top of the starter (B in the picture).
Hook the battery back up. Does it still run the starter?
if it does, the see if the main battery cable or any other of the cables going to the main starter terminal (A in the picture) is touching the outboard small terminal of the starter solenoid (D in the picture).

Re: 94 mercruiser alpha one 3.0LX starter wont stop anytime battery is connected

I removed yellow/red from post b. The starter still runs with key off. My solenoid doesnt have a post d like the picture. There is a small plastic coated circle where the picture shows post d. The plastic appears to be chipping off a little to reveal metal underneath. It also looks like there is a metal piece that connects post c in the picture to the plastic coated circle. None of the wires on post a are touching anything but post a. Some of the plastic looks melted like this solenoid got really hot. Could this cause something internally to melt together? Thank you for your quick response. Im so glad a site like this exists. I will definately be a supporter.

Re: 94 mercruiser alpha one 3.0LX starter wont stop anytime battery is connected

Update:
I replaced the starter and solenoid with an actual marine one after I realized that it wasn't sealed so it must not be a marine starter/solenoid. All is well now. Thanks for the help.