Starter Problems

[chris35]

94 buick roadmaster, I've just replaced my second stater in a month, the first starter was bad the second starter caught on fire. I dont know what's the problem, but I have a loose dark green wire hanging wire I'm hooking my yellow wire to the starter selinoid. Can some one help me with this problem?

[bennylw]

Hi Chris35,
great to have more newbies besides myself

1) When You say starter, You mean that You put in new solenoid as well i guess (i haven´t changed starter on my -95 but i guess they come as a complete "kit" when You buy one)?
2) When the second one fried, did You hear any bad mechanical noise or did it just go up in smoke?
3) I can´t see any green wire in Haynes Electrical Diagram so I don´t know where it´s suppose to be, but have You checked the thick main power cable (black or red according to Haynes) so it´s no bad connection there. There is a lot of amps running so bad connection could make smoke...

You could also check that the starter/solenoid is grounded properly.

I think the starters on these engines are adjustable with shims so if the cogs are too close the starter may get stuck, also a "big smoker". In that case You´ll need shims to widen the gap a bit.

Well, that´s just a couple of ideas, best of luck.