stater problems

[jeffpinto]

i have an 83 ranger 2.3 my battery was dead today when i stuck the jumper cable to the battery it started turning over key was off i replaced solenoid key lock cylinder and ignition switch still doing it any help would be appreciated

 

[tomw]

For the starter to have power, the solenoid must be closed, making a path for power through the large cables. You may have a faulty solenoid.
You can check by removing the small terminal wire from the solenoid. That wire powers the windings that make the solenoid send power through to the starter. It is operated by the ignition switch. If you disconnect the little wire and the starter still tries to spin the crankshaft, the solenoid may be jammed in the closed position or faulty, possibly removing the ignition switch from the problem list. If disconnecting stops the power to the starter, I'd be looking at the ignition switch & possibly wires.
tom

 

[RonD]

You may have had a bad starter relay(on the fender) and then mis-wired it after replacing it.

Starter relay(some call it a solenoid) has two larger posts
One larger post will have 1 wire only, that wire/cable goes to the starter motor, this needs to be the only wire on that post.

The other larger post will have several wires/cables, Battery's "+" cable is here, alternator wire(s), power distribution wires, ect....

There will be one or two smaller posts on the relay, one will have an "S" near it, that is the post that will connect to the Ignition switch(key), when this post has 12volts(key turned to START) relay will close and pass battery power to starter motor.
2nd smaller post, if there is one, will have an "I", it is usually not used any more, it was used to give the Coil extra power when starting the engine cold, it would have a wire connected directly to Coil's "+" terminal.

 

[tomw]

I have taken relays apart, and found the contacts charred and rough from the arcing caused by the opening and closing of the circuit. Sometimes the contacts can get fused together. The fact that the starter fired up when the new battery was installed makes me wonder if the relay was 'fused' in the closed position, more or less left there when starting was last tried using a dying battery. Just enough power to melt the contacts together, but not enough to operate the starter, maybe. Replacing the relay would normally fix that, unless the battery was not fully charged, or the starter was shorted internally.
tom