Reef'd Up

Hi everyone!
I'm new to the forum, but not new to Mustangs.

My first car (and still my car) is a 1989 Ford Mustang GT. It has 260,000 miles on the original engine and frame (but has a new transmission...AOD).

The car now is sitting in the garage, broken down...and my husband said I've got to either fix it...or sell it. So, HELP!

The problem started about a year ago. When I would turn the key in the ignition, the lights on the dash would come on, but the car wouldn't start. If I tried it more than once, the lights wouldn't even come on anymore...just dead.

I was told it was a bad starter solenoid (fender mounted), so I replaced that. About 6 months later, it did it again. Replaced that one too. At some point in there, the actual starter died as well, so I replaced that too. Well, to make a long story short, I've been through about 4 starter solenoids...so I'm wondering what's causing my car to eat through them.

A couple of months ago, as I was leaving work, I tried to start the car. When I turned the key, the car kept trying turning over and made a horrible metallic noise...so I removed the key from the ignition...and it still kept trying to start! Before I could disconnect the battery, the starter solenoid was totally melted, the battery terminals were slightly melted, and so were some of the starter cables. I replaced the battery, starter solenoid, and wiring all over again.

It's still happening!! Where should I be looking for the source of the problem? Is the car continuing to start with the key removed a separate issue from the car eating through solenoids?

I've always done all of the maintenance on my cars myself (minus the transmission...that was beyond me and my tool collection.) I'd like to be able to fix this myself & not just send it to the shop.

Thanks everyone for any ideas you may have (and please don't just be like my husband and tell me to sell it!!!)

Nikki

FivePointOhh

sounds like your ignition switch... a typical problem with these cars.

Reef'd Up

Ah, well, in the 7 years I've owned her, I've never had to mess with the ignition switch.

Is there any way that could be related to the car eating through starter solenoids? I can understand the ignition switch "sticking" to make the car keep trying to start, but not sure how it could kill the solenoids when it was starting fine.

FivePointOhh

take a pic of your starter relay set up how you have it currently. you sure you have it hooke dup right?

do you have a stock style starter or a mini starter?

and yes the ignition switch can make your car do some funky things. trust me, i was chasing electrical gremlins for a few months till i found that was my issue. not saying thats what your problem is...deff somethin you look into though as a possibility

Reef'd Up

Well, I probably should give a little more background on this car.

I bought her from a kid who put 9 neons, 2 strobes, and tons of stickers all over her...and then painted her metallic blue with a rattle can. Yeah, she has a million electrical demons. (And for the record, I removed all of the neons/stickers/etc.)

No, I don't have 100% faith in my mechanical work. I'm not the average joe when it comes to cars, but I'm no expert either.

The starter is a stock starter (the car is mainly stock.) I'll get a photo up of the wiring.

Thanks for the help!!

Reef'd Up

Let's see if I can post a picture right...



Does that help at all?

FivePointOhh

ok what happened with the ignition switch wire? they are red with a green stripe iirc and has a boot on the end. did you have to replace that for whatever reason? i'm refrencing the top middle wire on the small post.

FivePointOhh

here is mine, maybe her to tell...but there should be a booted wire thats striped going to that small post. looks like you replaced it or someone did. hard to tell from my pic

Reef'd Up

I've never replaced that wire (it wasn't damaged when the other wires got melted). Think the gauge wire might be off? Guess I'll start running down the length of it and see what other gremlins I can find.

FivePointOhh