91 tracer starts on own help

[cm71682]

i have a 91 mercury tracer that when both of the battery terminals are connected the car will start on own no key needed need help i have heard it was the starter or ignition someone plz help thanks

[fredjacksonsan]

Wow, crazy. Did you buy it used, and if so, see if it has one of those remote control starters installed, it may have gone bad. If not, check the ignition switch, there are some funky things that go on when that goes bad.

[cm71682]

no it doesnt have a remote start and i have heard that it might be a starter solenoid gone bad

[fredjacksonsan]

Yep, could be alot of different parts. Solenoid is as good a place to start as any. Good luck.

[Doug Rodrigues]

When you say that the engine starts, do you mean that the starter cranks and the engine actually fires and runs?

[cm71682]

yeah the starter cranks the engine over it fires and continues to run until you disconnect one of the battery terminal

[Doug Rodrigues]

The only thing I can imagine possibly causing the problem is that someone removed and replaced the ignition lock but somehow got the ignition switch (the electrical part of the switch) forced around 180 degrees??? When you finally figure out what is causing the problem, please let us know. I've never heard of such a problem before. Has someone done some rewiring lately?

[dyaballikl]

I seen this before. A friend of mine did this (the idiot). Check if there's any non-factory wiring going to the starter. What my friend did was put a new ignition in, (upside down like mentioned above) and he had a wire going directly from the battery to the starter, so when the ignition was in the "off" position, and the battery was connected, it would be cranking the starter. However, if you've had it for more than a week, and it still runs, this is probably not the problem because the battery would eventually fry the starter because the power would be continually cranking the starter, or, if u d/c the battery, the battery would not get more charge from the alternator.

Hope this has helped.

[oldmanneedshelp]

anyone figure this out, because my car does the same thing, bought it new in 1993 and it started doing this last week.