we are in the midst of changing the starter on our 66 chevy c10. everything was good till we put the cables on and they threw a spark and started to heat up. all of the wiring to the alternator is brand new. what causes this? does anyone have a wiring diagram for the starter so we can make sure the wires are connected correctly? thanks
the purple wire is on the engine side of the solenoid, the green or yellow resistor byp*** wire is on the outer side. Without looking at the truck in person, it's really hard to figure out what you might have done. Posting pictures would be a place to start.
Is the door open? You have something turned on that is not controlled by the ignition switch like the dome light. It won't be a big arc but you can see it.
it is a big arch, and its getting hot enough to burn my wrist. on the new starter there is a post that is just on the side of the starter. any ideas on what would go there?
Purple is the one that engages the solenoid, and it is on the inside small post (marked S) nearest the block. The resistor wire is the outer small post marked I, it feeds the coil 12v when cranking, but it still shows power when running. If it all went wrong after changing the starter, maybe just the battery feed cable is touching ground somewhere at the starter big terminal.
One way to eliminate possibilities is to start pulling fuses (one at a time) then reattach positive cable after each fuse till the arcing goes away. There is your problem. It will definitely eliminate any thing running through a fuse. Remember everything doesn't always go through a fuse. Could be a bad solenoid.
If he is throwing a big arc at the battery cable, he wont find the problem pulling fuses. The problem is going to be in the starter, solenoid, or the "big" wires going between the battery and the starter, (The alternator wire might be big enough throw a big arc, but you didn't change anything there right?) Anyway, I bet you got something wrong on the starter connection or you have a bad starter. Pull the starter back down and look everything over.
Check your ground. Wheres it grounded at? I have aluminum heads and learned the hard way after being burned that you cant use them to bolt your ground strap to. Had to use the engine block. It kept arching when i turned the key on and was so freakin hot i got 2nd degree burn when i touched the strap.
its not close. its dead on. thank you. one of the few problems was that the cable ends werte just falling off (wasnt informed of this till maybe two seconds ago) and that only half the cables were even attached.so all new cable ends are on and all the wires have some place to be. thank you all.
Where is it throwing sparks and getting hot at? That would possibly indicate a poor connection and high resistance at the "hot spot".
If it's throwing an arc and heating up the CABLES (big wires) as soon as you hook it up that sounds like a dead short (positive wire some how connected straight to ground) If I'm reading what you posed right it's arcing without you completing the circuit via the starting circuit. Maybe a hot wire pinched and grounded? my $.02 worth
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