Last week while I was driving along my starter just engaged and I couldn't turn the engine off. The starter wire completely burned all the plastic off. The battery cable burned some. The stsrter cable burnt completely out of the selenoid and the selenoid was completely toasted. I replaced all cables, ignition switch, had the ignition module checked, ran new wires for the ignition switch and the truck wont' start it turns over. Does it matter which side of the selonoid the batter cable & starter cable goes? Anyone has any ideaswhat's wrong?
Jaye

 

I don't know what you are working on, but this is the way it usually goes for automotive wiring. You have the heavy, high amp circuit that goes from the battery to the starter solenoid to the starter. Apparently you have this correct. Somewhere along this path, from the battery to the large terminal on the solenoid that goes to the battery, there will be some smaller wires hooked to this circuit. This is where the factory taps the 12v for powering the whole truck. Make sure these are hooked up correctly. You can get it to crank, so the starter switch on the dash is getting power from somewhere. Your next question; is my coil getting power? If not, trace this back to the ignition switch. The ignition switch is fed 12v, and this usually comes from the same area I talked about above. See if the ignition switch gets it's power from the same source as the start switch, or it may have a seperate feed wire that is not hooked up. Tell us what year truck you have, and somebody may be able to be more specific on wires if it is original.

 

 

I have a 55 F-100, the engine is a 302 from a 71 Torino. I changed the points to duraspark II. I used a distrobutor from a 78 F-100. I may have the wires from the ignition & start crossed with the ones coming out of the ignition module.