Hey h-t. So a couple weekends ago I decided to do a retrofit on my 94 hatch and after finishing it up my car would no longer start. Since I added a wire to the postive and negative post of the battery those were the first things i checked but that didn't seem to be the problem. The solenoid on the starter would click but it wouldn't crank.

So last night I bought a continuity tester after reading a couple posts on similar issues on here. After running the test I still couldn't get the test light to light up. Was going to run a jumper lead from the ignition wire on the starter but the stuff I bought to do it didn't work. Checked the power wire on the starter and that was loose so i also tightened that up.

Before whenever I took the ground off the battery to work on stuff it would just lightly spark orange. However, after tightening that power wire on the starter and put the ground on, I was getting a lot of giant white sparking. Went to start it and the solenoid was no longer clicking an then smoke started rolling off the starter!

Im kind of a noob when it comes to working on cars so any suggestions would be great. I realize the starter is f'd and ill be needing a new one but does anybody have any ideas as to what happend?

 

Sounds like there is a crossed up wire somewhere.

 

Thats what i was thinking... some kind of a short but i didn't change anything except adding the wires on the positive and negative terminals for the HID ballasts.

 

At first it just sounded like a dead battery, not sure how adding HID's could have possibly had an effect on the starter.

Post pictures of the wiring you added and/or modified.

 

At work right now so i'm not going to be able to get any pictures up.

 

The battery should be good though because I checked it out with a multimeter and it tested good

 

The battery may test fine (12v+) with a mulimeter. However, thats not to say its in good condition or it doesn't have something drawing from it. The battery should be tested while under a load to see what the voltage drops down to. That will tell you the condition of the battery.

 

sounds like you shorted something out while doing the wiring... double check your main fuse...

 

Well I did test it with the car running and it was at 14 something volts

 

Answer. Faulty wiring=fried starter. What other answer are you expecting?
I've never heard of anyone having such an issue just by installing a PNP kit or a full retrofit. Your wiring is the first thing that should be suspect.

And exactly why did we have to add any wires? Even plug-n-play kits do not require it.

 

a lot of the newer HID kits are only plug and play at the bulb connector... newer units require a seperate ground, and a 12 volt power source to energize the relay

 

x2

So the car starts then? because I thought the title of this thread said something like "Car wont start after HID install"

Not trying to be a dick, just trying to help.

 

The ballast require a 12v battery source, so I used my batterly lol. Not seeing how that could cause the car not to start. Since I took both terminals off for the install I cleaned up those connects and tightend the power wire on the starter. Not really seeing how I can have a crossed wire.

 

Your right should have said intermitten start. Sometimes it starts others it just clicks and doesn't crank. Most of the time it don't start.

 

The smoking starter didn't give you a clue? Of course you mis-wired something. Car worked before "retro-fit"? Car no worky after retro-fit? Seems pretty self explanatory to me. The stock headlight harness has power and grounds in it doesn't it? What's with all the extra wiring then?

 

Then it comes back to your wiring. Start checking grounds and for shorts. Replace the fried starter. No one knows how you really wired this but you.

 

Agreed... undo what you did... start all over... make sure nothing it grounded, because from what you said about your car smoking and intermittently starting you have a short... check for bare/broken wires on and around your starter

 

Ya i'm sure when i tightened that B+ power to starter wire at the starter, it was probably bare and cause a short. I'll check that wire tonight and hope that frying that starter didn't ruin anything else.

 

Some kits require use of a "relay harness". My DDM tuning kit did.

Even then, I don't see how mananged to kill your car.


Remove what ever you added, and try again. Have you tried push starting it?
Sorry, but this is new to me. I have NEVER heard of someone doing this with such a simple thing to install.

 

Ya it did require the use of a relay harness. I'm sure i probably messed something up and need to go through all my wiring again. Should have tried this on a friends car since I'm a wiring noob haha.

 

Sorry didn't read your whole post but I was able to get it push started.

 

No biggie that's what we are here for... just start with the basics... as for your hids... when you rewire them, run only the positive to the battery and just ground the relay harness somewhere on the chasis... the longer your ground the less "strong" it is... keep it as short and as close to the component as possible.... running a longer ground straight to the battery can also cause what's called speaker buzz... you will here a whine that fluctuates through your radio speakers

 

granted I am not a wiring noob, but it's really simple. It should be any more then +/-
and then connections for the ballasts.

Well that supports the fact the stater is toast.


This is a good point, you don't have to use the battery as a ground. There are multiple points on the car that will do just fine.


I can't remember where I grounded mine, but all I have going to my battery is a fused power wire.

 

Ya I mean it was a straight forward install so that's why I was confused as to why it didn't start. I'm thinking the +/- wires are going to be the problem. I cleaned up on those connections but it was still intermittent. It had enough power to run everything else except wouldn't start the car. I'll move that ground off the - post and redo everything and see what happens.

 

Quick update for this. I pulled the starter out and took it to Oreilly's and it passed quite a few times. The pos and neg battery wires were pretty aged so i ordered new ones and got those put in. Now however when i try to start the car, I can't seem to hear the fuel pump prime anymore. Also after i try to start it and let off there is a strange wining noise from the under dash fuse panel until i let out the clutch. Anyone have a similar issue before?