negative battery cables getting hot.

[thestrange]

Hello, I am new here and relatively new to the datsun/Nissan scene. my problem is usually my 82 720 turns over fine, however once and awhile the starter rotates once then sticks. so i have to keep bumping the key and eventually its fire. i have cleaned up all the ground cables, the hot wire ends to the starter, and pulled the starter and tested it. after trying the ground cables at the battery get really hot, and the starter smokes a little. the only thing i could think of is replacing the hot wire to the starter. any other ideas?

[erichwaslike]

if the starter is smoking its got an issue, the wires wont make a starter smoke. id suggest just swapping it out as they arent that expensive thru autozone and have a lifetime warrenty. also check to make sure you dont have any sections in the cables with extreme bends where the wire inside may have broken and you arent geting full use of all the wire in it cause that can cause it to draw more to do the same job due to resistance.

[thestrange]

Ok thank you. when i had the starter out, i hooked it straight to the battery with jumper cables tapping it with the positive in short bursts. i did that about 15 times making sure to do it quickly to simulate starting the truck, it didn't get hot, or get stuck. i realise out of truck there is no resistants against the starter, ill swap the starter when i get sonera cash. thanks again for the fast reply.

[erichwaslike]

take it to autozone and have them test it, its free. they can tell you if its bad, and possibly you may just need a solenoid.

[Dat Lurka]

Mine did that once. I was shorting out the ballast resistor with the breather cover. :angel:

[ggzilla]

Starter won't get hot in a bench test. If it smokes under load then the starter is on its way out.

 

The cable gets hot because of various causes:

* the starter is drawing more amps than specified

* cable is too small

* cable is too long

* cable connections are slightly corroded

[poor-mans-720]

mine did similar things, except it was slugish on the turn over, like a ruh-ruh ruuh-ruuh sound... so i added more grounding straps. one from the battery to cab, battery to motor, motor to frame, cab to frame. no longer have a ground cable getting hot or a sluggish starter. might try checking that you have enough ground to the starter, so it isnt drawing a large amount of amps thru one cable.

[thestrange]

thanks all, tomorrow if its not raining to bad im going to pull the starter and double check all the grounds. I went to start it today it rotated once and now i just hear the solenoid click.

[ssnapz]

mine did same thing three days later starter went replaced it no problems now