Not Grounding?
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Not Grounding?
Some of you may recall me having tough times with my truck starting. The 1995 F350. Anyway, today I went to start it, and it did its usual slow whind up, but for the first time it wouldnt start, then I see smoke coming out from under neath the hood and through the vents in the truck. I go to lift the hood and there I found a wire that was going from the motor to the back of the firewall. I am pretty confident it is a grounding wire. Now it had gotten so hot it had melted the insulator right of the wire. So I snapped tide if away from the motor where it had been laying, and then it started right up. What would cause this? Is it the grouding motor that had been sitting on the engine block, or did it short or something? Could this be the rout of my entire starting problem?
Post Fiend
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From: Union, Washington
A ground wire touching ground (the engine block is ground, just like the truck frame)thru burnt isulation will hurt nothing and can't cause you the problem you have described. A bad connection or dirty connection will cause it. Then the starter solenoid or the starter.
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From: fargo, nd
it could be a fusible link... i had one fry on my old grand marquis (5.0 mulitiport) and it would do the same thing... it looked just like a regular wire only one day it melted the casing off... replaced it and it worked fine
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From: Union, Washington
Originally Posted by darrin1999
it could be a fusible link... i had one fry on my old grand marquis (5.0 mulitiport) and it would do the same thing... it looked just like a regular wire only one day it melted the casing off... replaced it and it worked fine
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stange stuff. Its just an annoying kind I would like to get out. Its kind of embarrassing because the truck is really nice looking and it makes a scene everywhere, and everyone is watching, but then I go to start it, and it barely starts, and everyone is confused and dissapointed for such a wierd start, but furthermore, its very annoying for me. I am getting it looked at tomorrow tho,
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From: Union, Washington
Have you had the starter checked? I've seen them do this kind of thing, plus how big is the battery (Cold Cranking Amps) and is it fully charged? To small a battery capacity or a weak or undercharged battery will do this. As the voltage drops the current goes up, creating heat (melting wires, etc.) and frying wires and motors.
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From: fargo, nd
my roommate borrowed the car the day the fusible link went... he also fried the alternator... that was the last time he got my keys 
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Rough...No the starter hasnt been checked. The battery is a big one, and its only a not a year old yet. I will be extremely angry with the dealer if this starting problem is the starter., and not some compression issue with the coolant leak. Absoluetly a discuss.
Postmaster
Joined: Mar 2001
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From: So Cal
Sounds like a power wire to the starter solenoid. I had one where a camper dealer ran a wire to the starter solenoid to supply power to the camper lights. That wire eventuallshorted to ground and started smoking right against the firewall near the solenoid. If any of the solenoid wires touch ground, you got a short and potential fire.
Just a thought,
Jim Henderson
Just a thought,
Jim Henderson
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From: Union, Washington
Originally Posted by jim henderson
Sounds like a power wire to the starter solenoid. I had one where a camper dealer ran a wire to the starter solenoid to supply power to the camper lights. That wire eventuallshorted to ground and started smoking right against the firewall near the solenoid. If any of the solenoid wires touch ground, you got a short and potential fire.
Just a thought,
Jim Henderson
Just a thought,
Jim Henderson
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From: San Diego
Sounds like the wire that burnt was a secondary ground wire from the engine block to the cab, which means the main ground wire from the battery to the block has a bad/intermittent connection and all the current went through the small wire instead of the battery ground cable when you tried to start it, which also acounts for a slow starter motor.
My 2 cents
Jon
My 2 cents
Jon
Post Fiend
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From: Union, Washington
Originally Posted by soloquest
Sounds like the wire that burnt was a secondary ground wire from the engine block to the cab, which means the main ground wire from the battery to the block has a bad/intermittent connection and all the current went through the small wire instead of the battery ground cable when you tried to start it, which also acounts for a slow starter motor.
My 2 cents
Jon
My 2 cents
Jon
Last edited by Bear 45/70; Mar 29, 2007 at 01:34 AM.
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Thanks guys. Also is this strange to you? When I i opened the hood after that incident, it seemed like everytihng was very hot. Even the tubes from the cold air intake to the throttle body were extremely warm, arnt those just suppose to be cool? Maybe a little hot from engine heat, but not that hot? Did all that weird electriccity do alot of weird transfering throughout the motor?
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Got her back today. My guy said the negative ground wire was had been holding on the frame by two or three strands of wire, he was astounded to see how the truck continued to start with only that much amps going through that tiny amount of wire. Shes all set tho now.