I left my lights on last night by mistake last night. I had been out driving most of the day and started and stopped my car with no problem. My headlight buzzer quit working a few weeks ago and it doesn't seem like anyone sells a replacement. Usually, I'm pretty cautious about making sure my lights are off but I rushed inside last night to watch the Dodgers lose...

Anyway, this morning I test my battery it's at 9volts. I try my crappy auto parts store jump box on it and it doesn't work. Starter doesn't even click. The jump box did get the battery to about 11.7-11.8 volts but not enough to crank it. I call AAA, they come. They put their box on the battery. It begins to crank but won't turn over. After about five minutes of trying it, the starter begins to smoke. He insists that my starter is bad and that's why my car is dead. He leaves.

I haven't noticed any problems with my starter, no hard starts, no clicking, it's about 7 years old. I fire it up multiple times a day. Even yesterday. It always starts on the first crank. Could it have died? Or was his jump box crappy and not able to turn the car over?

 

You're only supposed to use the starter up to 15 seconds at a time definitively not for minuted. Probably overheated it. Best to charge for a day if old replace it.