Runaway started help for a friend...

[parlusk]

A close friend on mine who is a couple of hours away and new to the MV family called me today and said a bunch of wires burnt under his hook... After talking to him I have narrowed it down to a runaway starter. Its a 1986 m1009 low miles. Attached is the photos that he sent me. He also noted that one of the gens was smoking while this whole mess went down. I sat down and read most of the "runaway starer" posts and could not find exactly what wire this will affect. I know the main 12v wire coming from his battery to the engine harness block fried, along with at least one of the blue gen fusible links. I think it is safe to assume that his starter is gone and probably one of the gens. I advised him to get the materials to do the DH relay mod and sent him a link to a video is made showing how to do this mod. While on the phone i had his disconnect the generator wires "blue". When the starter stuck he took off his front positive battery cable to get the truck to shut down. From what i can tell by walking him through a couple of things there is a major wire grounded out somewhere. We are working out the logistics for him to get his vehicle here so i an better help him fix his issues but that will not happen for a couple of weeks. Where should he start to get some of the things knocked out before we can get here? I am going to get him to pull the starter and have it rebuild and probably the gen as well. Attached is the photos he has sent.

 

[Warthog]

The wire on the battery is the ground. Looks like all the juice was flowing thru it. That indicates that the frame to engine ground and Negative Terminal Buss to engine ground are messed up.

Have him check all the grounds.

http://www.steelsoldiers.com/showthread.php?120289-CUCV-Electrical-Ground-Locations

Also have him read the Fusible link thread

http://www.steelsoldiers.com/showthread.php?122571-Fusible-Links-101

You have to disconnect both batteries to shutdown the starter. Disconnecting only one causes a backfeed and burns the fusible links

http://www.steelsoldiers.com/showth...fter-Starter-Run-on-Explained-and-Illustrated

Has he downloaded the Tech Manuals? What is his skill set? Can he read a wiring diagram? Can he use a multimeter?

 

[Skinny]

Replace everything that is burned and maybe even that battery that is melted on top. Install the starter relay upgrade. Have the starter replaced with a quality used or genuine OEM replacement. Disconnect alternators and test starting circuit. If good, then work on your alternators. They may have fried internally.

 

[Keith_J]

When the front battery was disconnected, the starter then drew through the front battery in reverse current mode. That is what melted the battery top. Should have disconnected the front negative, then front positive, then rear negative. Still, there could be damage.

Replace e fusible links and the fried wire, then find out why the starter stuck. Probably the relay under the dash.

 

[parlusk]

yeah he said it happened so quick that he just disconnected the first wire he could get to... he did say though that the wire had already burnt into the battery before the terminal was disconnected.

 

[parlusk]

UPDATE... I spoke with my friend today while he was working on his rig. The dog head relay mod is finished. He changed out all of his fusible links that were burnt up, along with all the fired wires. I had him unhook both alternators and test the starting system before he pulled the stater. It fired right up and ran great. In time I am sure that the starter will need to be rebuilt or replaced. I was going to have him hook the generators back up to see if either one will charge. He said that when hooking up the blue fusible links back to the block harness there was a considerable amount of spark. Not sure had bad it was sparking, but he was running out of time and needed to get to work. Should there be any continuity between the two blue leads running to the generators and ground?