Got a 1976 highboy. Parked it a while back. Had to put new starter on it. It tried to turn it over then a guy I know (while i was trying to strt it tried to jump the soleniod) and it shot out a spark a foot tall. Ever since then if i hook up a battery it starts to boil and staem out. Any suggestions on this would be great.

 

Sounds like your solonoid is bad and possibily your starter is stuck in the ring gear.

 

It sounds like both cables are going to the same point, either both are to ground or both are to the solenoid.

 

You have a direct short. Musta been a chevy guy, he blew your solenoid.




John

 

already replace soleniod and had the starter checked so those are out

 

Have the battery checked it could be internally shorted. Are you sure the battery cables are not backwards.

 

we have used a couple different batteries and nothing has been moved around since this happened except for the starter and solenoid someone told me to replace all the wiring but that is a little pricy right now and I dont know if i really need to go that far justt to get it running again

 

ON the battery side og the solonoid where the battery cable connects remove the smaller wires and just leave the cable, and hook up your battery cable. now you can touch the others to it and find out where you need to start tracing your short.

Before you do that remove your start wire (small wires) on the solonoid and see what happens. You may have voltage trying to engage the starter when you touch the cables.

 

Could it have fried your voltage regulator, so the alternator is cooking the battery? Had this happen once to me years back on a friend's Dodge Colt, that steam is some nasty stuff - not good to breathe.

 

A quick guess is that the starter may be jammed in the ON position. That is, it's engaged with the flywheel, with the contacts closed, and it's stuck there. For whatever reason, it hasn't sprung back. With the contacts held closed like that, it's close to a dead short through it, and being engaged already, it can't quite get itself turning.

I suggest this because you said that the first thing you did was put on a new starter, then your friend tried to jump it, then the problems started.

Try this: take the big cable off of the starter. Then use an ohm meter to check from the lug on the starter to ground. If you've got zero resistance, then that's where your big short is. Pull the starter, take it apart and find out what's going on inside it. It may be mechanically bound up, or it may have welded itself together electrically.

If not, then work your way back up through the solenoid. Disconnect the positive side cables one at a time and check the resistance to ground. Do the same thing with the alternator. Disconnect the big positive cable and check from the lug on the alternator to ground. Somewhere, you've got a big connection right to ground. Use the meter to find it. Don't keep putting batteries across it, or something is going to catch fire or explode.