Dumb move of the weekend

[Trevor]

In the electrics wiring chapter of the JTR manual there is a friendly warning phrase that says "if you only do this once, you won't do it again!" with regards to wiring the starter solenoid to the hot side of the iginition. Well, I did it while replacing the battery in my wife's van. "While I'm at it" set in and I was suspecting the starter relay was flaky so I bought a new one of those as well. There are several wires that connect to the 2 posts on the relay and I mis-placed one. Obviously it was the solenoid wire which should be on the side of the relay thats only hot while the switch is in the starting position, not while running. So with its new battery and relay the van (Ford E150 5.8L) starts fine, runs fine, but I hear this noise from somewhere around the bellhousing. Clue #1. I reason This van makes lots of noises (at 200,000 miles) so I ignore it and drive down to the gas station. While driving the AMP meter shows a discharge. Wierd. Clue #2. When I get out of the van I smell a "hot" and "electrical ozone" smell. Ready to go home, hit the key, and the starter spins, but doesn't engage the engine. Fudge. Tried hot wiring across the posts of the relay (getting very familiar with that part), no dice, tried jumping the battery. Nada. Called AAA, waited 2 hours for a tow home. Less than 5 miles, I could have walked, but while waiting I realized what I had done wrong. Too dark to try it in the parking lot anyway SO I wait until Sunday morning. I correctly wire the relay and hope for a miracle. Nope. Take out the battered starter motor, shake it and it sounds like a bag of marbles. For grins I connect it to the battery with the jumper cables still unpacked from the night before. Sure enough the motor spins AND the solenoid clicks but something is seriously shredded between the motor shaft and the gear. Teeth on the ring gear are OK, I count my blessings and carry the old motor into Advance Auto parts and buy a reman starter for $73. My Explorer still smells like toasted bakelite.

[datsunlover]

I saw something simmilar happen to a Porsche 924 of all things! The wiring was a hack job (3 previous owners) and the guy selling it, a brother in law, had NO clue... So after some rigging and arcing of wires, he turns the key and gets the starter to spin. After about 10 seconds of cranking, the car finaly comes to life.. unfortunatly, the starter was STILL ENGAGED!!! The guy yells over the noise of the rotten exhast "See, she runs pretty good!" And starts reving it up... I hear the whine.. and then see the smoke.. So I start signaling the guy to shut it down, but it wont!! He pulls the key out and holds it up.. wtf? So he tries to stall it by droping the clutch in 1st gear with the hand brake pulled; No dice. The car was just fired up cold and it's idling around 2K, so it digs in and takes off down the driveway! He finaly figures out to hold the brakes and drop the clutch in 4th gear, but by this point the white smoke and that SMELL have taken over the driveway. He wasn't happy when I left with my $2000 still in my pocket....