HELLO ,I HAVE TWO 1988 150'S THAT WHEN HOT CRANK LIKE THERE IS TO MUCH COMPRESSION FOR THE STRTER TO TURN OVER PROPERLY.AND IF I CONTINUE TO TRY TO CRANK THE GROUND WIRE WILL JUST SMOKE.WHEN IT COOLS DOWN IT WILL START RIGHT UP NO PROBLEM.PLEASE!WILL SOMEBODY HELP ME?AND I WILL THANK YOU IN ADVANCE FOR YOUR EFFORTS.

THANKS!

 

Hey,
I had a similar problem with my '90 F150. With mine you would have to let the truck cool for at least an hour after it had been running before it would start up again. If you tried to start it to soon, it would crank like it had a weak battery and cause the ground wire that goes from the negative battery terminal to where it bolts to behind the headlight to get extremely hot. I ended up buying a new battery, and a new starter-to-solenoid cable, neither of which did any good. Finally I crawled under the truck and noticed that where the negative battery cable connects to the bottem of the starter was basically caked in dirt and mud. I unbolted the cable and scraped all the dirt off of where the cable connects so that it was nice and shiny and then bolted it back on.. The truck started right up, and has started perfectly since...
Sorry for the long story, but hopefully it helps ya out.

-Dave

 

Bad ground somewhere, check all your cables make sure they are not cut, make sure you have no dirt/crud on your connections to the frame/body and replace your batt terminals. The reason the wire are smoking is because current needs a path to travel, if no path exsist you get resistance, things get hot and melt or catch fire.

 

I WILL TRY YOUR ADVICE! MUCH THANKS!