Wouldnt start, then just kept cranking without key

[StLfanatic]

just bought my first mustang last weekend. Its a 92 GT. It has basically sat in storage for past 2 years. Car needed a little TLC, but was very nice. Exterior is converted to match a 93 Cobra R. Only mods are 3.73 and full exhaust.

Anyway, on saturday I replaced the battery. But kept fighting it all day. Dont know if I was the idiot for not looking more carefully or previous owner the true idiot. But after a few hours of sparks, i found out the red cable was actually the ground, and black was the positive...

so while finding that out I ended up replacing the battery and starter solenoid. Car was starting and working fine. This morning I fired it up to go get it inspected/tagged. Started just fine, drove to gas station and car ran PERFECT. Pumped my gas, THEN.....

i turned key to start it and it cranked, but after a second or two it didnt start, so i let off key and it continued to turn over... i was mind boggled and then even TOOK THE KEY OUT OF THE IGNITION, and it still turned over... after about 20 secs or so it kept getting weaker and weaker and finally jsut stopped.

at this point i had no lights, windows, etc.. i found a guy to jump me and it did nothing. but the negative wire on MY battery started to smoke a bit. we quickly stopped.

im looking for help, anyone have any ideas? everything seems to be connected right and good connections

 

[Zero_chance]

A starter that keeps cranking even after the keys off is usually the starter solenoid. Whether you just replaced it or not is irrelevant because when I did my starter about a year ago I decided to replace the solenoid and the next day when I was leaving work it kept cranking and I had to tap the solenoid to get it to stop. After that I waited and got a Ford one and its been fine ever since. As for it gettign weaker and weaker it could have drained your battery so you might wanna get it tested.

 

[HISSIN50]

Agreed. If the little connector at 12 o'clock shows 12 volts when you are not cranking, the issue is in the wiring to the solenoid. otherwise, and most likely, that little wire (the S-terminal) is dead but the solenoid is latched. This happens when half dead batteries are used to crank a motor over, or other issues arise.

Good luck.