troutman56

Hello everyone, new to the forum with a new problem.

Got a call this morning that my Wife's GS started with difficulty and then started running weird and sluggishly on the way home. She turned it off and it kept making a noise and shaking badly. She said there was smoke and a burning smell. I got home and it smelled of burning metal and the battery was drained. I did not try to mess with anything as I had to get back to work. No fluids had leaked from the car. One option was that the starter got stuck? She sent me a video which demonstrates the sound after it was shut off. Second thought is it threw a rod or something but I am not sure it could run after that. 3rd is the timing belt as it is time to replace it. What are your thoughts? The car is 14 years old and I am hesitant to put a ton of money in it. A starter is one thing but anything else is a bit much. Thanks in advance.

Here is the video:
View My Video

marshun

sounds like knock. but you said it made this noise after she turned it off?

troutman56

Yea. She has shut the key off and it continued until the battery died. That leads me to believe it is the starter. But what damage did it cause as it did that for 15 minutes. I hope it is not the crank/valves/rods, etc but being that is drove weird at the end is suspect.

FrankT

Stop driving the car and disconnect the battery...

The internal contacts in the starter solenoid are stuck on.

You or your mechanic needs to replace the starter and inspect the ring gear for damage.

In most cases the starter can easily be rebuilt with new contacts but your smoking description and driving with the starter engaged warrants a new starter.

Doubtful you have engine damage, just a burnt up starter...

Good luck.

troutman56

Thanks for the responses guys. I ordered another starter and I am going to replace it myself on the tutorial I saw on this site.

Another interesting development occurred. I got home and needed to get in the trunk to grab some stuff for my wife. I figured I would hook the jumper cables up to my Tundra to get power to the car to pop the trunk. I hooked the cables up and nothing happened. Good (maybe bad?) sign I figured being that no noises happened. Still no power to the car and I waited a minute. While waiting I noticed that the cables began to smoke and then they melted. I quickly unhooked them from my truck and noticed smoke was coming from the starter area. Honestly I have never heard of jumper cables melting and am a little curious onto what else could be wrong.. Any thoughts? Also, my truck seemed fine Is there any chance that this could have hurt my electrical system?

ThomasGS4

iTrader: (19)

Just out of curiosity, why didn't you put the key in the trunk and open it manually?

FrankT

Your starter has most likely welded itself in the engauged position.
Connecting another power source may/will cause a fire or at the very least burn up something else.

If you want to connect a battery remove or disconnect the bad starter.

You may have blown a fuseable link if not all of them.

GOOD LUCK.

troutman56

My wife lost the 2 regular keys we had. All we have is a valet key now.

Frank, I am hoping I didn't blow up to much. Guess we will see once the starter is replaced. Thanks again for the help.

bigsiops

Same thing happened to me last year during winter. My car was hard starting in the am, i thought the battery was done for so i ordered one to pick up after work, but before i got home this happened to me. my engine won't shut down and it kept cranking till it died. when i replaced the battery the car started by itself and smoke started coming out. Turns out the starter and alternator was toast. I had it towed to a shop.

Come to think of it i shouldn't have tried connecting a new batt. So i am only guessing the same happened to your wife's car.

angus

iTrader: (4)

So you need to check the wiring from the battery to starter, one may have melted causing a short.

Also, before you just replace the starter you may want to make sure there are no teeth missing front eh ring gear.

A side note - now that you have no more master keys, you may want to have the valet key you have cloned to get some spares before you are really up the creek.

wbmx1981

It's not too bad to replace it yourself, plus you'll save some money and you'll feel good knowing you did it yourself!

troutman56

Wanted to give an update. I want to thank everyone for their help. It was the starter. After lots of staring to get a strategy in mind, plus learning how to use a 24 inch extension with the pivoting head, I got the old starter out and the new one in. Charged the battery and it started right up. Hopefully the battery and alternator are fine and im hoping they do not strand my wife out on the town. So far so good this evening on the test drive... Once again thanks!