firebirdland

I've had no working lights going on 3 weeks now. I have checked or replaced almost everything possible. The only place I didnt check was the starter but its almost new, and considering I have somewhere I have to be until after dark tonight, Im gonna need to get these lights working or drive home with my head out the window doing 2 mph the whole way, again. scince I cant reach it, I slid a half inch plastic water pipe down in there in an attempt to try and wiggle the wires a little. Nothing, not even a flicker of light from the headlights, then when I step back I notice smoke coming from starter. Great Im thinkin, now I fried the starter, and have no lights. So for the heck of it I tried to start it, and it fired right up. Not only that but all my lights work again too! Whats up with this? I only hope it wont crap out on me while I'm out with it.

Base91

iTrader: (1)

You need to check/clean/tighten all the connections. Smoke is almost never good.

85irocinjected

Pull the front passenger tire up onto a curb and crawl under the car to get easy access to your starter. Check that your battery cable is tight there. The + cable from the battery goes directly to the starter. Possible when the starter was replaced the wires down there were only hand tightened. If that cable has been shorting out it may be a good idea to replace it. When you burn cables you cause their resistance to go up which is not good. You will be able to tell by looking at it if you should replace it.

firebirdland

Ya I think it would be best to take a look at the starter wires, the curb is a good idea, could a bad connection at the starter cause parking/headlights to not work even though it starts just fine?

91phoenix

iTrader: (5)

It sounds like a bad connection and maybe some cleaning and tightening of wires there at the starter. The cause of the smoke should be able to be seen fairly easily.
Yes a bad connection can do exactly as you are describing.

firebirdland

super, i'll check it out tomorrow