(is) I don't understand my car.....(was) HELP!! My car won't shut off!!!!

[bronson@inwave.com (Nate Mellom)]

I really don't understand my car.
I tore apart my fuseblock, pulled all the relays (which were all dry), I 
used canned air and blew out all the connectors, checked all the fuses 
(all were fine), pulled the fuseblock off the firewall and checked all 
the connections I could see and blew off everything I could see, put it 
all back together, hooked the battery back up and......lights still on 
on the dash, voltage guage reading 9v with no key in the ignition.  What 
the hell?  So, I started pulling all my relays again, one at a time, to 
see if anything would happen.  Nothing did, so I figured I'd start it 
for shits.  Started right up, dash lights went out, reading a full 
13.5v.  Okay, so the moment of truth, I turned the key off.  It paused, 
like it wanted to shut down, but kept running.  It had not even thought 
about shutting down in it's own since yesterday.  So I turned the key 
back on, turned it just a hair to off, and it shut off!!  Started it 
again, had to jiggle the key a little bit, but again, it shut down.  And 
since then (crossing fingers and toes, knocking on wood), it's started 
and shut off like normal, probably a dozen times.  I have NO idea what 
did it, but something either worked or my car took pity on me (since I 
was so nice to equip it with a quality TT system =o).  
So, for now, my car starts, and shuts off, like it should.  
I'm taking bets on how long it will last......

Nate
'81
'84

Chris, I had done nothing to my car previously aside form running it 
through the car wash.  In the past, I have noticed water in the drivers 
foot well after rains and car washes, but I forgot to look this time. 
 I'm thinking that maybe I did indeed get water in my fuseblock area 
when I washed my car (bad windshield seal, I'm guessing), and it dried 
up, hence it working.  That's my working hypothesis, anywho.