ok guys im having a problem with my 85 camaro. the other day i get home and turn the car off, well all of a sudden the damn thing keeps cranking and cranking. i lift the hood and smoke is coming from the starter so i pull off the batt terminals. well the car dies. so the next day i put the terminal back on and the same thing happens, the car starts cranking even though i havent even stepped foot inside. i have no idea what it could be, bad starter? i replaced the wiring and terminals and same thing, no fix. if anyone could help me out PLEASE!! what the hell is it!!
88cruzin

 

Well, it sure sounds like you have a short somewhere, either in your starter circuit or in the ignition switch wiring.

My first guess, since you said smoke was coming from the starter, is that the stater solenoid may have shorted itself together, causing a permanent connection (always on).

 

It probably needs a new solenoid, and probably a starter since that one cranked until it smoked.

There is a copper ring, looks like a large washer, inside the solenoid, that sometimes gets welded to the contacts in the solenoid, causing it to continue cranking.

You need a starter anyway if that one smoked very much so starting here won't hurt and will probably fix it. Then, if it's not fixed it's time to get the starter circuit diagrams and trace down the problem.

 

thanks guys for the help. i figured id be the starter, its just gunna be a pain in the azz to get it off cuz of the tight space the headers give. not sure bout the wiring from the ignition, i did replace the ignition switch though and it didnt help any. guess ill have to crawl under there on sat. thanks
88cruzin

 

That happened to me once on my first car. Turns out a piece of solder wire from some soldering I had been doing earlier had fallen down onto the starter relay and landed right across the terminals. Maybe you should check for something similar (like a penny or hell I don't know) shorting on the starter relay. The only other thing to check would be the switch in the steering column. Good luck man.

 

Just noticed you said you replaced the switch, so disregard that last. :lala:

 

ok im stumped and pissed now because i replaced the starter and solenoid. well as soon as i connected the terminals the damn car started cranking AGAIN! now im out of ideas as to what it could be and im really frustrated!! any guesses what it would be, or anyone had the same trouble????
88CRUZIN

 

I had the same exact trouble only I was going about 50mph when my starter came on. Thats about the worst sounding noise I've ever heard from my car. It turns out I didn't tighten the wires good and they moved and ended up touching each other. make sure the wires on each side of the start aren't touching if it still does it then its probably your ignition switch.

 

This is a guess, but when I did my T56 swap, I had moved the wires for the hatch release. That caused the same problem. Might want to check that out if you have the power release switch.

Jim Buckingham

 

I had the same problem just two weeks ago. The starter began to smoke just as yours. Turned out that a wire running between the engine and firewall had become crispy and shorted out. I replaced the wire and everything was fine again. Even with it getting hot and starting to smoke, there was no aparrent permenant damage.

Good Luck! Let us know how it goes

 

the problem is with a fusable link... that same thing happened to me and everyone thought i was crazy.. i go down to an old garage where an old man works and he starts laughing when i tell him what's wrong.. i'll be damned if he wasn't right.. so just go and change ur starter...

 

If you replaced the starter and ignition switch both and that didn't fix your problem then it's definitely a wiring problem. Fusible link or otherwise. Good luck tracking it down, I hate when wiring shorts out. Check your starter relay too.

Don't forget to change your blinker fluid

 

If it has tilt I guarantee the problem is on the column.

 

finally! well sat i decided to work on the car again, and this time i decided to change the cables from 6 gauge to 4. to my surprise when i put the terminals back on the battery NUTIN! the car was fine, so i go to crank it up and bingo it cranks fine. thank ***! i also changed out the wiring from the ignition running to the starter, the moron who owned the car before decided to mcgyver the wiring with ductape. i hate that so the car is fine for now thanks guys for all the info you gave me, it really helped me out with this puzzle. 88CRUZIN

oh come to think about it, i do have tilt and it is waaaaaay loose!! the column moves around alot! ohhhh great

 

Sweet! :hail: