The pinion in my started got hung up on my last fall so I ended up putting in a new mini starter last Dec. It fired right up with no problems and then I stored it. Over the winter I started it about six different times without any problems. Last week I pulled it out of storage drove it home and still had no problems. Went to take the wife for a ride and solenoid clicked and then battery cables became hotter than hell. My dad thinks its the starter but I'm wondering if it could be the ground on the frame. Any thoughts?
Did you allow your battery to go dead during storage? If so it may have frozen and bulged a plate causing it to short. Had one this week that tried to go up like the hindenburg due to being frozen after dischargeing in storage. Check your ground connections and the ground cable before condemning the starter. If grounds/cable check good... Pull the starter and have it tested...
I would first make sure your engine spins over by hand (I'm assuming it would, since you just drove it last week). By battery cables, I assume you mean both cables to and from the solenoid? Check to make sure your battery cable has not melted against the exhaust manifold, or is shorted to ground in any other way. A quick starter check: try lightly tapping it with a hammer while someone holds the key to start. If it begins to crank, replace it. If it does not crank, then you will need to do some further testing. A bad ground on the frame would cause low current to flow, which would not heat up the battery cables. BUT it could heat up another cable, like your throttle cable, which was not designed to be a ground wire. Let us know what you find.
Thanks for the input, I'm learning on the fly as I've never worked on cars growing up. But there is only one way to learn and that is to ask for advice and to dive in. I'll do some tinkering this weekend and let you guys know what I find.
Sounds like low voltage may have caused the solenoid switch to stick open. This used to be a common occurence.
