CrossedFlags77

I have had trouble with my charging system for the last few days and finally got it figured out yesterday and fixed it. I drove it last night to charge the battery up. The volt meter was around 14 volts and running strong. Then at a stoplight I got on it a little and the whole car stumbled. I looked at the volt meter and it was around 11-12 and it would never climb back up to its original 14.

Then this morning I went out to start the car and I had to jump it. So I jumped it and when I put it in gear the car died pretty violently and a nice plume of gray smoke was going from under the hood. The car wont turn over and when I turn the key to start the gen. light doesnt come on. What could be my problem? Should I try to jump it again?

Thanks,
Ryan

page62

No! Unless you want to make the problem worse. It sounds like your alternator (or some related component) may have burned up. That's what the gauge was telling you.

Shouldn't have jumped it the first time, but now that's :beatdeadhorse:

CrossedFlags77

So what should I check first? :banghead:

page62

Follow your nose. Something turned into a crispy critter, and you should be able to smell it. Take a good whiff near the alternator... :yesnod:

68raggtop

The first thing I would do is disconnect the battery if you haven't. It sounds like you mat have a dead short in a circuit. That would not be good. Like page62 said, follow your nose and look for insulation melted/ missing/ charred. Most likley near a sharp edge or pinch point. Good luck.

CrossedFlags77

I am pretty sure its not the alternator. The smoke came from under the engine and the majority was on the passenger side. So I am thinking its the starter. Would that make sense?

Fevre

Sounds like you might have the postive cable grounded to the block. Definately unhooked the battery and do some investigating.

ry

:eek: same thing happened to me when i first started working on my car. nobody told me the colors on the batt. term. were crossed on these cars. anyways..... i reversed the pol. on the car and it blew out a small peice of wiring near the starter. think its called a fuseable link or something like that. its about 6in up the wire from the starter to the ign switch. good luck on fixing it.

'79ProwlerOrange

a buddy of mine had his alt freeze and it killed his engine. the belt tension wouldnt let it turn over. this was in a '92 350 K5 blazer though.

78 Vette

check all wires going to the starter and disconnect the batt don't leave the batt hooked up disconnect it until it is fixed.

PureSilver

I've also seen a case (not a 'Vette) where the big ground cable from the block was gone/broken/burnt and just the little one for accessories grounded the starter. Makes lots of smoke when it gets cherry red and vaporizes the grease on it. Just another thing to check...

stpman

I had this happen to me on a 69 Buick LeSabre lost the body ground from the back of the engine and it found a new ground though the trans cooling lines, burned holes in the lines and sprayed trans fluid all over the exhaust manifold. There was smoke everywhere I was doing 70Mph at the time to

didn't understand why all of a sudden all the cars that were next to me weren't there anymore :D


Steve :steering:

71forKen

:iagree: with what's been said. Check the wiring harness going down to your starter. I had mine come loose and melt itself off the back of my headers. It shorted out and fried the starter wires. Smoke came out the passenger side back of the hood and I got our quick and ran to see what it was. When I checked the starter wires they were actually still burning! Yikes! Got that out quick. But I needed a new harness anyway, right? Good Luck!