Ground wire from Battery heating up...

Alright folks, I have been chasing a wiring problem today, with no luck, and Im hoping you all may be able to shed a bit of light my way. I have a c 10 stepside, that ive been driving daily now for sometime. So I go to start her up one morning this week, and she clicks, and nothing. I try again, *click* nothing. So I figure Ill replace the battery cables, they need it, it has a relatively new starter, and the switch was reently replaced, so I figure the wiring was next anyway. I hop my happy *** to the local parts shop, get the necessary equipment, replace, and go to fire it, and *click* nothing. The wiring is correct, the starter is engaging, but the ground wire is getting hot almost immediately. It moves on its own when I hit the switch. Whats going on? Thanks for looking, Travis

 

SOunds like the starter gave up the ghost - especially since you said the cables are new - I ***ume you double checked the connections.

 

Either a very bad connection or the cable you bought is too small.
Many of the parts houses sell a really cheap cable , uses less than 10 gauge wire . Put a jumper cable ( good one) on the neg and the ground and check again.......

 

4g on the neg, and 2 on the positive. Jumped, no luck. Starter?

 

Dead solenoid perhaps?

 

Thank you guys, Ill try a new starter tomorrow, and report back if I have any problemos. I appreciate the quick replies! Travis

 

I'll bet your ground wire goes from the battery to the FRAME? right??

do you have another wire running from the block to the frame somewhere?

remember your motor/trans mounts are "effectively insulators" therefore you need to have another wire from the block to frame to "complete" all necessary circuits..

if you do have this wire (the block or the frame) check all the connections again. .and clean all the metal completely (use a wire brush or grinder)

and remember my motto..

ALL ELECTRICAL PROBLEMS start with a bad ground...

 

Battery ground is bolted to the block, and an 8g wire is bolted from the cable connector to the frame. I did clean all connections before reinstalling the new wires, so, can I rule that out? Thanks for the input, I appreciate your suggestions! Travis

 

Bad ground connection.....keep looking.

 

Motor locked up......water in a cylinder or something like that

 

I was thinking the same thing. One of my customers sent in a starter on a S10 to be rebuilt, he put it on and same problem someone told him the trans were bad about locking up so he had it rebuilt, still same problem, was about to get the motor rebuilt and while taking the belts of he found the alternator locked up .

 

Hey: My neighbor had a water pump locked up and it did that.

 

check the ground cable[inside]...sometimes they ac***ulat heavy corrosion on the strands of copper inside the jacket rendering it a "non conductor" almost!
If it's an Aluminum cable -better pitch it....

 

Hey just for the record, it was the starter. Changed it and she fired rigt up. Thanks for the help everyone. It is greatly appreciated. Travis