My starter went out a week ago, I ordered another from rock auto. It arrived Friday and Saturday I spent 2 hours replacing it. I had to jump the battery for the car to turn over. It ran fine, I took it out on the road. Then smoking came from under the hood and it smelt like electrical wire. I took it back home, looked at all the grounds and looked at the connections. Nothing out of the ordinary. I could only think maybe I had a faulty starter. So I went to autozone payed for another new starter, took it home installed it and then it cranked over. I started it 6 times and turned it off 5 times to make sure it was working. About an hour later I go to start the car to go to the store and it won’t crank over at all. I have all inside lights and outside lights. So power is getting to the car. What is my problem?

 

Hello,

Does the starter sound fine or a little more loaded than usual?

A lot of car parts stores offer a free option to test the starter on the stand, take your original unit there and see if it is still functional and passes the test. If the starter is okay, inspect the wire that is going from the battery terminal straight to the starter, see if the wire has any discoloration or any signs of burning, then check the bolts and the mounting spot for any signs of corrosion that can inhibit the contact.

If all that is good, check that the motor is spinning more or less freely, try taking the belts off and see if the load on the starter would decrease, if so, one of the accessories on the engine likely got seized. I've seen some alternators spinning freely with no load, but seize completely as soon as you push on the side of the pulley, which was caused by knock-off bearings. Other than that, you will have to wait until the issue would return to check it in details.

Hope this helps and best of luck!

 

We noticed the one way connector wouldn’t click in, but it was snug. Power is being drawn from somewhere. I was maybe thinking I have to replace the battery cables? I noticed the positive cable is exposed on the top and is discolored a bit, but I didn’t think it would effect the entire cable.

 

A picture of the wire will be helpful.

Discoloration can be a result of just age or the wire being overheated, if the wire beside it still looks good, that can indicate an issue. Put your hand on a discolored wire and crank the car to see if it will get hot, you can also try wiggling it to see if the contact will get lost.

Hope this helps and best of luck!