camaroeater

My car won't start at all, but the headlights and radio come on. I decided to replace the starter since it was old anyway and it still won't start, won't even turn over. So i took the battery to Oreilys and it tested out good. I threw the battery back in and 3 seconds after I tried to start it, SMOKE came gushing from the wires.

I felt the wires and they were hot as shiat and so was the solenoid. Since the solenoid looked melted a bit I threw on a new solenoid. I went to start it and 3 seconds later I could literally see smoke gushing from the wires and the positive cable melted so bad, It looked like it caught on fire. I replaced the battery cable and it still won't start, but alteast its not smoking. I felt the wires after the last time I attempted to start it and they were pretty hot, but they did not melt.

Does anyone have any ideas? Could a bad alternator be the case?

nightmare90gt

check all you grounds sounds like your grounding out your wires shouldnt be smoking or even be getting hot enuff to smoke, do you have fuel, spark i would start checking all the usual stuff

camaroeater

I can hear the fuel pump priming, but the last time i tried to start it, no lights come on and it doesn't make a sound. I checked the grouns and the plugs/wires cap and rotor are new. It was running great before this happened.

Tommorrow, Im going to test the alternator.

Thanks nightmare!

nightmare90gt

do you have pressure at your schrader valve on the fuel line, could be alternator but if i am not mistaken when your battery is full charge it should start the car just wont run for long but its worth a try.

jthorn9

Since you are melting wires you have a major short somewhere. You need to check all of your main (positive) power lines and see which one is at fault. Odds are you're arching causing excessive power draw on the system. Check all your grounds as well. If your car was working one day and not the next they you probably hit something on the road that cut/damaged one of the wires.

jthorn9

To test if it's the alternator that's bad unplug the alternator completely from the car and see if the problem persist. If not then the alternator has shorted, if so then the problem lies elsewhere.

Oh the problem is also only occuring when you crank the car over so that means that it's not any of your smaller things (battery cables, lights, audio, etc.) that run with just the key part on off the battery, so that'll narrow your search. All componets that need full ignition to operate are the ones to check.

camaroeater

I just attempted to start it and nothing, not a sound. I checked the fuel pressure at the schrader valve and their was no pressure. I also double checked the starter cable, grounds and battery cables. I didn't see any cut wires or anything.

*Update*

I took the battery back to Oreilys and it checked out "BAD". I put on the new battery and I tried starting it and nothing, then 3 seconds later it just started turning over and over, but wouldn't start. A little bit of smoke came from the passenger header area, which I suspect came from the new starter. I felt the wire at the started and it was hot.

I had to disconnect the battery cable to shut it down, but when i try to reconnect it, it starts turning over automatically, over and over until i pull the cable off.

jthorn9

The short is draining the battery. Leave the battery unpluged until you find it or else that one will be drained too.

camaroeater

Its fixed! I could get it started by tapping on the side of the solenoid, which shows its stuck. I think when that positive cable got real hot and melted, it killed the solenoid.
I put on a new solenoid and it fires up faster than ever.

jthorn9

You replaced that cable I hope lol.