battery short

As I have said before, there are very few people on Stangnet with good
electrical troubleshooting skills. There are even fewer willing to troubleshoot a
problem over the internet. Your moving the wiring may have added to the problem.

Now that the rant is over, check the solenoid and wiring. The solenoid has
been miswired, or welded the contacts stuck together, or you have
continuous current going to the small red wire that triggers the solenoid.

Diagram courtesy of Tmoss & Stang&2birds




The first step is to remove the small red wire that is a push on connection on
a bare screw. That disconnects the starter solenoid from the ignition switch.
If that does not fix your problem, then the solenoid contacts are stuck
together or you have miswired something.

If removing the red wire from the push on stud does fix your problem, the
place to look is the ignition switch and wiring. If careful examination of the
wiring around the ignition switch doesn't show any problems, replace the
ignition switch.

See the following website for some help from Tmoss (diagram designer) & Stang&2Birds (website host) for help on 88-95 wiring http://www.veryuseful.com/mustang/tech/engine/

http://www.veryuseful.com/mustang/tech/engine/images/IgnitionSwitchWiring.gif

http://www.veryuseful.com/mustang/tech/engine/images/fuel-alt-links-ign-ac.gif

http://www.veryuseful.com/mustang/tech/engine/images/88-91eecPinout.gif

Yes, if it starts to crank when you hook up the bat, it has a problem.

If it is an old style starter, that uses the fender mounted relay and the big round Ford moveable pole shoe starter, the relay on the fender is stuck in the on position. If you have the 93 style (ministater to me) style, then either the relay or something on the starter is stuck on or wired wrong.

Easy to check with an ohm meter. If, with the key off, you have continuity through the relay power side, its stuck on. This is valid for the relay on both systems. On the old type, that should find the prob.

The new style starter circuit will need to be looked at with a wiring diagram. It has a power wire to the starter, and another actuating wire to the starter from the relay. I cannot quote the exact ministarter wiring from memory.

Overall, this is usually not as big a problem as it seems, just scary when you find it.