Hello all this is my first post and it about my second idi i bought about a week ago. The issue is that when I ran the truck for about an hour and stopped for fuel, when I went to start her back up the ignition system started acting strange. It was acting like the battery was dead and after a few attempt's the positive battery terminal and wire to the starter where smoking hot. Hot enough to melt the terminal a little. I easily got the truck started with a push start and got it home parked it for the night went out the next day and she started up normal like nothing ever happened I havent drove it long enough to let the temp get up to normal operating temp since in fear of being suck some were. the truck is a 89 7.3 with zf5 tranny the previous owner only had one battery hooked up and the power wire are old and the insulation is dried and cracked. Could the problem have been some sort of short causing it to heat up? or is there another possible cause. I am planning on getting two new batteries and power wires for the truck but am unsure how to hook them all up, wish i still had my 6.9 so i could take a look, but i dont so could it be possible for some one to provide a basic schematic for the batteries and power and ground wires? would replacing these items be a good place to start fixing this problem? any help or advice would be greatly appreciated. I did search this forum but couldnt find anything that seemed to help so sorry if this information is already on here and i could find it. Thanks

 

Replacing the batteries and cables is a good start. The positive cable runs from the drivers side battery across the top of the radiator support to the passenger battery, then it runs down to the starter. The main wires are usually 2/0 or 3/0, there is a smaller wire that runs to the solenoid on the passenger wheel well. The ground from each battery attaches to a bolt on the front of the engine, one on each side. There is also some ground wires that attach to the body and a few other random things I'm not really sure of.

 

There is also a "heat wash" problem with the IP when they become worn.
To test for that problem, dump a bottle full of warm water on the IP (when the IP is at normal temp and having starting issues), if it suddenly starts your IP is worn.

You situation sound more of an electrical issue...but it might not hurt to narrow down the possibilities.

 

ive done that test with COOL water, not warm....you need to cool the injection pump enough to let the seals get cold again...

 

As stated one battery, bad cables, and heat soak to the starter = starting problems. These trucks need a lot of juice to start right. Be careful of water on the injector pump, as if you shock it to much, it can sease the head and it can twist the shaft off, resulting in a pump replacement. Dave S. always recomended luke warm water as a LAST resort.

 

Thanks you ill try though suggestions out and try to narrow down the problem

 

Used to have this problem on one of our tractors but i cant remember what the issue ended up being... I want to say that it was an internal short in the solenoid (on the starter) and that when it got hot the oil /grease let something bad happened. Got to the point it would cook the wire all the time, once it finally caught on fire my uncle decided to fix it lol.

 

I'm having the same issues with my dad's '91. We swapped trucks over the weekend and his truck cold starts and runs great, but once it's warm, the starter will not get it going and it's gotten progressively worse over the past few days. I jumper cabled my PSD to his just to make certain we had enough volts/amps. It spins over strong but will not crank but will roll start with no problem. I have a feeling it's injectors or IP, but I don't want to just throw expensive parts at it. Ideas?? Thanks in advance

 

Your problem sounds like a worn Injector pump. Do you know how many miles on the 91? As the pump gets a lot of miles on it, the internal parts wear, and they cand build the pressure with the warm fuel to pop the injectors correctly. This is where a cup or so of luke warm water poured over the head of the IP may help get her going. The water cools the aluminum outer case, "shrinking" it just enough to help build pressure. I hesitate to recomend this, as it can result in a destroyed pump, if the pump is not worn. If you do this, and the truck starts better when it is hot, the pump needs replaced.

 

We'll definitely try the cool down. The engine has 257k original miles but the IP was replaced about 80k ago. It was a new pump from International. Thanks for the info