Hi I got an f350 6.9 diesel and I recently put a starter in and the other day I had
A police call so I went to start my truck like normal and it wouldn't start that easy and i saw smoke coming from under the truck and the starter wires were on fire what would cause this? Do u think it fried my new starter? Starter won't even click now this truck is costing me money I don't have another truck that will tow it either its 12,000 pounds. Could the wires could have melted together and that's why it wont start. It's 70 miles away from my shop where most of my tools are

 

Sounds like it grounded out and/or was hooked up wrong. Bad news is that you'll most likely you'll have to replace the wires to the starter too. Wouldn't hurt to swap out the solenoid either. you'll have to check the wire from the battery to the solenoid and then to the starter. Shouldn't have gone any further then that.

 

all the wires look good except for the ground wire

 

You still may wanna at least test their resistance. They could have burned internally, these wires are none for corrosion anyway.

I would first check to make sure the battery is still good at ~12 volts. If so, then check the battery terminal on the starter solenoid. If good there turn on the headlights and try the key to start. The headlights should dim if power is going to starter. If nothing happens and no dimming, then I would then turn off lights and try to jump the solenoid to see if it starts then. If it does start, then you should replace the solenoid, HOWEVER MAKE SURE THE TRUCK IS IN PARK OR NEUTRAL AS JUMPING THE TERMINALS WILL BYPASS ALL SAFETY FEATURES.
If nothing still then prolly gonna have to swap starters, just tell em it was bad and they should just swap it out no problems.

 

Okay I got a better look at it today I tried jumping it starter solenoid on fender and nothing but when I hooked cables up to the battery and used 18 gauge wire from cables to starter contact points and it clicked. I'm guessing the thin wire is the reason it wouldn't crank? Also the pos cable is fine. The ground is the one that burnt out in fact it burnt in 2 halves

 

The thin wire should be your ignition wire if I'm reading correctly. Did you check for any blown fuses?

 

Nooo your not I couldn't get jumper cables in the tight spot and I have like no tools here to pull starter out so I used a jumper wire to get to the contact points

 

do you happen to have a diagram for the fuses?