I just had a "near miss"...nearly burnt up my pickup.

I was near home...and heard a funny sound..don't know what it was...but it was by the motor...I got out...thought something sounded funny..but didn't know what. Drove home REAL carefully.
Pulled in the driveway....listened again...something was still amiss...
Shut it off with the intent to find a shop...

Popped the hood.

SOMETHING WAS SMOKING>>>>> down by the starter.
Within another 20 seconds it was REALLY smoking badly.

I looked underneath and the starter was smoking....so hot the rubber had now caught on fire. I ran like heck and grabbed a hose in one hand and a wrench in the other...thinking if I unhooked the negatives of the batts. that would help.

By now the fire was more than a couple rubber parts...but I think still constrained to the starter.

Hosed the mess out of it and put it out and also unhooked the negs.

DID THIS EVER HAPPEN TO ANY OF YOU.....I AM AT A COMPLETE LOSS.
I now think that the starter somehow re-ingaged while the truck was running....and after I shut it off...it was still engaged....or shorted????? or something...???? I don't even have a clue...but this is such a freak occurrence...I am always finding out that here at the resource....it has always happenned to someone else before.

Please chime in if you have any idea. I am afraid to hook my batteries back up..and I assume my starter is beyond shot to heck. etc., etc., I don't even know where to start.. I don't want to put a new starter in and burn it up,...if indeed the problem is somewhere else.

AND I paranoid about even hooking the batteries up again.

I hope someone out there had the same thing wrong and can help out.

Thanx,

Puke

 

look for electrical arcing evidence. it could be that the battery cable just shorted out down there. could be a bunch of things, but wire arc should be evident on something. when you find that we can figure where it came from

 

It sounds like the relay or the solenoid contacts welded together , also the ing. sw. can go bad , the started stays on after using it to start truck .
You can hook the batteries [ be ready to unhook ] , or just touch to batt. see if starter tries to run with ing. sw. off .
Or use a test light to see if the start wire has power with ing. off , then on , then start position .
Find whats holding power to starter in off & or run pos. [ should only be on in start pos. ] , fix that , my guess is you need a new starter , after fixing the power on , under wrong -on or run key pos.

 

I am assuming I need a new starter.

Can someone point me in a direction besides the ever so expensive dodge dealer.? I'm guessing they are not cheap.

Thanx,
Puke

 

If you need it soon , then get a rebuild , talk to a repair shop to find a good rebuilder .
If not in a hurry or just more info , here .

http://www.fostertruck.com/dodge/default.htm

 

After doing some thread searching and some phone calling.
It sounds like this happens slightly more often than one would be comfortable with (assuming your whole truck could start on fire and end up written off).

Apparently the starter was engaged. Why it decided to engage when it was already running is beyond me. But I guess that's the sound I heard..now that I've talked to a few people etc., etc.,

I don't understand why, AFTER I SHUT IT OFF, that the truck kept heating that starter hotter and hotter????? If I wouldn't have been by a hose and water it would have been toast.,

Is there come kind of throw switch I can put on the neg's of the battery cables.??? so if this happens again I can pull the switch and save myself buying a new truck?????? There has GOT to be some way to eliminate this again...

I have the deluxe oversize copper things in the starter already, and apparently that didn't help me much.

I'm super paranoid about my old 12V now, but apparently there is a diode you can put in that will eliminate that 12V problem from re-curring.

OK,

Anybody else want to chime in I'm all ears. I am going to be afraid to ever let the wife take the truck (she doesn't like it anyway)..even in an emergency. She would just freak out and let the truck start on fire.

OIk
Puke

 

Not sure what a dealer charges, but the auto parts stores around here charge about $250 for a starter, I have an extra one too, because my starter would just click a few times then start, after I changed my transmission it went away, so now the new one in a box is just collecting dust...o well! Not familiar with burbank...but I'm sure your prices should be similar there.

 

The starter contacts may have gotten stuck, causing that problem.

http://www.fostertruck.com/dodge/starter%20faq.htm

 

BY the way, I moved away from burbank, CA, and am now near Salt Lake City, Utah,..I think this place is the capitol of diesel truckville....by the way. I guess I should change my signature to read that I'm no longer in burbank but now Salt Lake City.

OK,
I may call the diesel parts house I've ordered my lift pumps from and see if they also stock starters. I think they were somewhere in Ohio.

Thanx,Clayton

 

Auto zone is where I got my "new" starter. Lifetime warantee. I've won twice already. $209

Mine did exactly the same thing. I don't hear very well and didn't notice it untill I got to work. Sizzle sizzle. smoke. Lucky it didn't burn up the truck.