Hey, fellow classic owners. Posted this in the "General Tech" forum, but got an email saying I should post it here. So... here it is.

I had my 66' stang sitting in the garage for like 2 or 3 months. When I go to start it, I can't. I take the battery to Pep BOys and they tell me I need to replace it; so I do. I'm ready to start the car now w/my new bat. When I do I hear the starter turning and I see sparks and smoke coming from the starter relay switch. Then everything goes dead and nothing happens when I turn the key.

So... instead of reading up, I go and buy a new relay (dumb, I know). When its all installed I go again to turn my car on and boom, same thing happens.

Im sure there's simple tests I can run and it doesnt seem like hard work to get it fixed, but I just need to know where to start???

Thanks in advanced people.

 

Hey Carlos, glad you made it over to the classic section. Did you take the starter out and have it tested as I suggested? Apparently, you have a short in the starter, but if it tests out OK, then make sure all your cable connections are clean and tight.

 

you may have some wires hooked up in the solinoid wrong, or not hooked up at all!! there are two wires that hook up to the front of the solinoid, if one is not making a good connection, the mess your in will happen, so i would check and make sure, everything is hooked up correctly

 

Take Soaring's advice and have the starter checked. Also ensure that the positive cable going from the starter to the starter soleniod isn't grounding out anywhere. I'm going to say it's a defective starter because if it was the cable it'd probably smoke it or weld itself to wherever it's grounding out. You may also want to make sure you didn't waste a cell in the battery when you shorted it out. Shouldn't be a problem if it's a quality one, but it'd be safe to check. Good luck getting it going bud!