Hey all just joined after spending a few weeks working on a very odd issue i am having. I have a 1997 Eclipse Rs non turbo, manual transmission. The problem I am having is when I turn my car off (as in turn the key off) it stays running. Take the key out of the ignition, it stays running. I have it narrowed down to this, under the hood is a fuse box, inside that are 2 fuses in a yellow plastic holder, one is for radio the other is for the interior lights. while the key is out of the ignition (and the car is still running) I pull the fuse for the interior lights and the car shuts off! Something wrong here. Now while the key is out of the ignition I put the fuse for the interior lights back in and a few relays click on and the EGR purge solenoid makes noise, I go in the car and the cluster lights are on (like when you turn the key to the on position) but the key is no where near the ignition. I have some experience in auto mechanics and have never came across a situation like this (let alone any other person I have asked) all I get are puzzled looks.
I have checked every wire I can find under the hood, under the car, inside the car, inside the inside of the car (under panels), in the dash and I have found nothing. Is this something a faulty ignition switch would do? Any ideas?

 

if "staying running" means it acts as though you never touched the key and it is still in the "on " position, then you need a new ignition....

 

So yes that is what i mean, and that is what i figured was wrong. I installed a brand new ignition switch and it is still doing the same thing so its not the switch..

 

but like i said under the hood in the fuse box there is a yellow fuse holder with 2 fuses in it. one says radio and the other says interior lights. when i pull out the fuse for the interior lights the ignition works fine. when i put the interior fuse back in the solenoids and relays click and it acts as if the ignition is in the on position. i can not find a broken or frayed wire any where, I looked at the harness that runs along the door jambs and i pulled the head liner out and can find nothing that indicates something wrong. I also followed the harness that comes out of the fuse box under the hood, again i found nothing wrong.. love the car but really starting to hate it..

 

If you replaced the ignition bout the only thing I can think to do is try undoing the negative battery cable and let it set over night then re hook it up cycle the car on and off several times and see if that helps.