smoking wire, REALLY slow cranking

krazedstang

15 Year Member
Mar 23, 2009
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Streamwood
hey guys this morning i noticed my car was cranking a little slow, it has a brand new interstate battery and brand new alternator, well as i left work the cranking got even slower, and then when i left to go to the gym it was slower then before. after the gym i went to the gas station to fill up, and it cranked even slower but this time did not start, after i tried starting it a 2nd time i notices smoke coming from under the hood, so i popped the hood and noticed that the wire that goes from the neg cable and bolts onto the wall right by the starter solenoid, was melted and bare wires were showing through where it had melted, any ideas on what this could be?
thanks
 
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It could be something else (like a starter on the outs) but the cables and cable connections are the place to start.
 
Check the ground wire going to the block-Make sure its tight. Thats why the small wire melted.


agreed - I took my neg cable off the timing cover and the threads inside the cover were corroded to heck - high resistance connection which caused the bulk of the current to use the smaller ground wire as the return path = smoking wire.
 
agreed - I took my neg cable off the timing cover and the threads inside the cover were corroded to heck - high resistance connection which caused the bulk of the current to use the smaller ground wire as the return path = smoking wire.



makes sense, electricity will take the path with least resistance. i will check it out!
 
My money is on bad starter. Try starting it again if the wire is burnin up but the starter is cold then change the bad ground wire, if they're both burnin hot replace the starter. Probably should replace the ground wire anyway, it probably wasn't the problem to begin with, but it will be now that it's started melting the insulation off.
 
Starter! I had the same problem and i tried everything hoping that i wouldn't have to replace the starter. Well finally i replaced the starter and no more problems. Sterter won't be too expensive at your local parts store. If your car is 91 or older get one for a 93 because its basically a high torque mini starter(like half the weight and cranks better) all you have to do is hook it up like normal, then change the starter wire from the switched side of solenoid to the hot side. then run a 10ga wire from switched side to the smaller wire on the starter. it sound alot better then the slow ass cranking hunk of a starter thats on there before. Good Luck!