Battery popping and no starting..

stonedog406 · 05-07-2011, 11:35 PM

After doing an hour or so of searching the forum, I found no answers to this problem and was hoping for some advice. Here's the background:

My 97 has needed a bit of throttle to start and if it is not plugged in it takes a lot more cranks, but if it has been plugged in, it has been great. The guy I bought the truck changed out the primary battery but did not change the #2 (I knew this and had planned on making the change when the weather and timing were more convenient) Last week, I had a bit of trouble starting it and had a buddy with me who was able to use jumper cables to get it started. I drove it about 30 miles home and the next morning, it would try to start and would crank reeaall slow and I could not get it started. I tried again, but not even a hint of turning over. It was parked next to my other truck so I got the cables out and connected them and tried to jump start it; I connected to the #2 battery and the connections starting smoking real bad. The cables fried and actually melted pretty good.

I took the cables off quickly and as I did, I made a point to make sure that they were indeed correctly connected to pos and neg. Now was a good time to replace that battery that should have been replaced when the primary was replaced. Installed new battery and nothing. I exchanged the starter relay with one of the others (heat grid, I think, which I know was working), and still nothing.

Took the starte/soleniod out and took it to the auto parts store and and it tested fine. I ran out of daylight to test the primary battery, so I will do it tomorrow. During my search of the forum, it looks like it could be the fuel shutoff solenoid. My question is if this was the problem, would it at least turnover? The smoking and popping is still present at the battery terminals. This occurs only at the end of the cable connecting the two batteries. That is to say the popping, sparking, and flames occur only at the negative terminal of the primary (drivers side) battery and the positive terminal of the passenger side battery. Could I just have a problem with this one particular cable?

thanks in advance

ykdave · 05-08-2011, 12:14 AM

time to clean and/or replace the cable ends and possibly the cables themselves if they are corroded bad enough

randemelissa · 05-08-2011, 07:27 AM

have you checked the new battery that the seller installed to see if it was good? are you sure it isn't shorted out on the inside? good luck

rande

stonedog406 · 05-08-2011, 11:06 AM

Good idea. I will pull both batteries and take them to be tested and get some new connecdtors and give it another shot.

ykdave · 05-08-2011, 06:10 PM

if its popping/smoking/sparking at any connection its a pretty clear sign that their is a bad connection. a proper connection would allow the cable to glow cherry hot and burn your truck down before anything else!

stonedog406 · 05-08-2011, 06:25 PM

thanks dave. Ultimately I have replaced both batteries and the cables that were affected. It turned into a longer repair than expected as the cables are 2 guage and all I could find off the shelf was 4 guage. I ended up making my own, which too more time and money than I was expecting. It probably would have been a couple of days and a lot more money to get the Dodge replacements. Bottom line is I got it started again and we are good to go. In the process, I now have a clean starter as well!