Damage caused(potentially);starter

when changing the ignition switch make sure you have a set of those tamper proof torx bits handy.

If you still had continuity across the two large lugs on the solenoid (one goes to the battery positive and the other goes to the starter), especially if you tested with the battery disconnected, then the solenoid is stuck closed and the ignition switch is not that particular issue. With the battery disconnected, power cannot flow to energize the solenoid to "short" the two large lugs and result in continuity as you indicated you had. It is not unheard of for the solenoid to fail in that way. That said, the ignition switch failure is also common. Ford also had a recall on the 1988+ ignition switches.

Thanks JT sounds like I'm on the right track. I was pretty sure that's how it works. I should know in about half an hour if I can ever get done work

Bad news is, with not much more torque than hand tight, the one stud broke the plastic and tore itself out. Hopefully the parts shop, who did have two of these in stock today, will help me out with a replacement.
Good news though, after pushing the stud back to its location on the solenoid and very very carefully putting everything in place, more or less floating there, I was able to start the car and get it home.
If the parts store won't do anything for me which I would be surprised about, these cases look practically identical. I can probably drill the rivets out and swap cases on the solenoid studs and all.
Also, how is THIS for coincidence? I decided to flip on my satellite radio for the first time in forever. It came on to one of those crime shows.
Not even kidding you, the first thing they start talking about as soon as I flip to the station is how the investigators are looking into the cause of the suspicious car fire that killed some old lady. Turns out as The story goes on, what they're looking into is whether or not the ignition switch in her 1988 cougar was to blame or not. They even went so far as to briefly educate the listening audience about how this is a common problem on Ford's back then!!

Hi guys, more or less just looking for input on this.
I've been having an issue where when I go to start the car, it does nothing, but always comes back. Was going to get to looking at it, I was suspecting the neutral safety switch(is that what it's called, the one that has to do with the clutch?) but...
So I came out of the grocery store and went to start it, nothing. No big deal, try again. Well, after a few tries, it started. Problem was, it didn't STOP starting. Unfortunately, all this is a bit of a blur as I was a bit panicky at the time racing to take it all in, while also deciding what to do in a hurry. I did turn the engine off, and again the starter kept going. Fortunately I keep an old 12mm wrench in the glove box, and I was able to jump out and disconnect the battery. After standing there wondering what the hell, I decided to touch the lead back to the negative terminal. I only did this for maybe a third of a second, twice. Both times, nice blue spark, and a weld spot on the battery terminal.
I went home and came back with a multi meter, and I had continuity across the screws on the solenoid, so I'm assuming I have found the problem? What I'm wondering is what sort of damage, if any might have been caused by this. I'm guessing it's not good to have your engine running, with the starter also doing its thing...I wish I had reacted quicker and just jumped out right away and disconnected the battery. The engine may have ran as long as 30 seconds like that Like I said, it was all a blur, but I think I may have also, a second time turned the key forward, which may have briefly started the car a second time.

Sorry to join this discussion late.

I wrote about my experience with this Here (#4 post), some years ago on this site. Basically, same thing—was in a Walmart parking lot, got in the car and went to start it—the starter fired up the engine, but then IT WOULD NOT STOP CRANKING. I shut the engine off and pulled the key from the ignition—IT KEPT ON!

I pulled the positive terminal off. It had cranked for about 2 minutes—I walked across the parking lot to an O’Reilly’s Auto Parts and bought a new starter solenoid. Problem solved! (The problem one was from NAPA—one of several bad parts I’d gotten from them in the past few years.)

I also put those quick-release battery terminals on the next day. Next, I replaced the Neutral Safety Switch on the clutch pedal—it had broken a few years ago and I hot-wired it. Now the starter CANNOT engage without proper operation of the clutch pedal. That had never happened before, and I was DETERMINED to never have it happen again.

I think you’ll find that you have likely shortened the life of your starter. Mine quit not long after this.

That is quite the story, quite similar to what I had happened. I definitely had the key off and on a few times seeing if that would do anything.
I agree there's no way something didn't take a beating during the time it was running, I guess at least the starter is easily changed and not the most expensive thing you could ever do to your car by a long shot.
What sucks is, other than some messing around up at the shop when I was showing how I was having issues starting the car, I've probably only started the car maybe four times since I changed the starter about a week ago.
I don't know if it was because it's a cheap solenoid, or just bad luck but I kind of wish I hadn't cheeped out in case that had anything to do with it. Weird thing is or at least I think it's weird, I never suspected the solenoid because I could hear it clicking every time I tried to start the car any of the times that I was having problems. This was a pretty new problem maybe happened 10 times and always went away just by trying again.Push the clutch,turn the key hear the click nothing. Do it again it starts up.
Forgot about Occam's razor again. Should have checked it

For anyone who might be interested, I took apart the solenoid and snapped some pics. Was hoping to find answers. At the very least I got a free roll of copper!

I have had starter solenoids stick shut a few times over the last nearly 50 years of owning mostly Fords. Sometimes a stuck on solenoid can be "freed up" with a few hits with a hammer, large wrench, etc.

I carry a spare solenoid in the trunks of both my Tbirds "just in case".

NAPA used to sell high quality parts, but those days are long gone. Many NAPA parts these days are rebadged Dorman JUNK selling for 2x the price of just buying regular Dorman brand. The NAPA 2 miles away used to have a full parking lot on the weekends 20 years ago. Now the parking lot is virtually empty every time I drive past it.

Yeah I have heard of people whacking the solenoid to get back in business, one guy said he had a dent in his fender because he got sick of popping the hood!
This solenoid is by a company called blue streak which I thought was a funny choice if name. If it fails, I guess I'll be cursing a blue streak!

Blue streak used to be a good brand 30+ years ago (used to use lots of Blue Streak parts like points, dist caps, plug wires, etc, when I owned cars that used those kind of things), but not sure of the quality these days. Likely Blue Streak is still an order of magnitude better than the worthless junk they sell at Auto Zone, etc.