I just did a clutch job and since then my negative cable is smoking when i try to start it. What could cause this? Maybe I hooked the starter up wrong? the car DOES turn over, starts smoking so i stoped and disconnected the cable. anyhelp would be awsome.

 

yep...this happened to me first time i started up my old 12A (check out one of my previous posts). Smoke means you definitely have a short. The smoke is coming from the wire of least resistance.....sometimes you'll get smoke from your choke cable...or an external regulator...or wherever. In my case, the positive from the battery to the starter was scraping against the gearbox housing. Once i insulated it all, the problem was solved.

In your case, go back and check each power connection. like u say you did the clutch...and so took off the starter....maybe you hooked it up wrong or the wire is scraping somewhere. You shouldn't have done terminal damage to anything....u turned off quickly when u saw the smoke, right ? maybe a fuse or fusible link might need changing...but other than that you should be ok. I know how nervous you get when you see smoke...when i did I thought I had fried the whole circuit !

 

Did you put the Ground wire back under the long bolt for the starter? did you happen to switch the two wires?



.

 

well there is only 1 wire long enuff to reach the starter stubs, so i assume i didnt. Witch "stub" does the positive wire connet to the starter? Im sure I have it hooked up right, but dubble checking wont hurt nobody.

 

Not true. I had the engine out of the widebody for 2 years before I put another one in and hooked both battery cables to the lugs on the starter. All I got was a click from the solinoid and no smoking.

Yes, I can be a bonehead on occasion. Even changed starters, same problem. This is why I have FSMs. Somedays I do need to read first and then install.

 

Yeah. There is a ground wire that gets bolted near the starter (just above the starter on one of the bolts that hold the engine to the tranny). On the starter, there are two large posts and one small. The small is the trigger wire for the solenoid. One of the posts will have a wire connected to it that runs to the starter body. The other large post gets the + battery cable.

One thing that messes people up is, with stock wiring, the + cable is black, the - has a yellow stripe. People see the all black cable and assume it is - when it is actually +. Just go ahead and double check it all. Also, if the cables are in bad shape, they can get hot/smoke depending on how much you are cranking it. If it smokes as soon as you turn the key, you are probably looking at a short.

 

It also sparks as soon I I try to turn it over. I fucked up the red and green wire in my dizzy, I sodered them back. Could the soder "globs" be making contact inside the dizzy and causing this?

 

No, it is something with the wiring to the starter. It takes a pretty big current to cause the - cable to smoke. Either the cables are backwards, or you have both battery cables connected to the starter. If both are connected to the starter, you are creating a short bewteen the + and - battery terminals as soon as you try to crank. Not many things it could be. Check the battery cables first.

 

Well I have looked over the cables like 20x and the ned batt cable it grounded by the long bolt that hold the starter/tranny to the motor. the pos cable is connected to the closest "prong" to you looking under from the driver side, and a black/yellow stripe wire is hooker to the top on the starter by a "tooth" looking thing. The starter is acting funny, befor the change it would crank n/p not I can turn the key over a few times and get nothing, then like the 3rd or 4th time it starts turuning over slowly. I have a brand new battery in it also....

 

Are you sure the + is really +? Could the cables have gotten swapped at the battery? Does everything else work fine (headlights and such)? It is strange, but the behavior point to a major short (smoking/sparking) and it only happens when you try to crank. It seems that this means that the short is being created through the solenoid. How are the battery cables (original?)? Perhaps there is internal corrosion and and part to the - cable got damaged when unbolting/working on the clutch. This usually creates a slow cranking (almost like having a dead battery). It can also heat the battery cable, but it usually takes quite a bit of cranking to do it. A major short is pretty much the only thing that would cause smoke/spark as soon as to turn the key.

If you don't see anything obvious with the wiring, take the starter and battery down to be tested. It is free at most autoparts stores. Maybe there is something in the starter causing the short during cranking.

 

ok, thx for your help man. A trip to auto zone is in my near future.

 

I just went to leave the job site in the widebody, battery is fully charged and all I got was a click, and the pos battery cable started smoking where it connects to the brand new clamp I soldered on it last week. Took a pair of pliers and crimped a bit, fired right up.

When I put the new end on last week, I noticed that it had some green corrosion inside the sheathing. I'm not getting a full jolt through this corrosion. Time to cut the sheathing back until I find clean wire and resolder.

You may have a similiar problem.

 

oh and yeah the light work fine.

 

All my idiot lights came on too, just wasn't getting enough juice to the starter.

 

well i took the starter to auto zone. Its fine. I got to it stop smoking by sticking a knife and a wire brush cleaning the **** off. but now when i try and turn it over it just makes a buzzing sound

 

well i took the starter to auto zone. Its fine. I got to it stop smoking by sticking a knife and a wire brush cleaning the **** off. but now when i try and turn it over it just makes a buzzing sound.....I tryed jumping it off but got the same problem

 

Can you rotate the engine by hand at the front pulley?

 

yes

 

It sure sounds like the power and negative cables are switched at the starter... Either that, or there is so much corrosion on one of your connections that the juice just can't get through. I dunno...