All,
I found my truck running by itself on Saturday. The truck does have an autostarter installed. The autostarter was installed 6 months ago and I've never had an issue. I'm not even sure if the autostarter was involved in this case.
The truck appeared to be running, but at a much lower speed/rpm.
Maybe it wasn't running?? I'm not sure. This all happened so fast!
Maybe the engine was continuously cranking?

Which explains why my starter caught on fire. It's chard. The wires connected to the started are so fried they turned to charcoal.
I did use the truck earlier that day, and the problem started about an hour later. I assumed it was the autostarter, so I opened the truck and stepped on the brake, and then popped the hood. But nothing changed.

I ended up pulling the + battery cable off but it kept "running".
I dropped the positive cable, which grounded out, and then everything STOPPED... finally.

The truck got towed to the dealer.
Before we towed the truck, I unplugged the autostarter and ohmed out the connections (relay contacts) that are tied to starting to the truck. They were all reading open circuit.

I'm curious to know if these trucks are known for self cranking?
Are electrical fires known? What are the causes??

Thanks,

 

That really shouldn't have happened...... (yeah, no sht sherlock......) If the starter solenoid seized, the starter may have been running for a while, but, I would like to think you would have noticed that when you turned the key off, and it didn't work..... Still sorta running after disconnecting the positive cable though, it REALLY shouldn't do that.... not with the ignition off...... I suspect your auto start just smoked your truck.

 

Uh, no, not known for "self cranking" or other electrical issues that would start a fire at that location. Agree with HeyYou, pretty sure its related to your auto start.

What brand was it and who installed it?

 

The autostarter is an AUTOSTART Model: AS-1775.
http://www.autostart.ca/prodInfo.php...0&prod=AS-1775

I installed it myself. I've installed LOTS of starters with my knowledge from years of working in a car audio shop. I'm not saying the austostarter did not crap out, I would be surprised. I'm confident about my installation.... but one never knows!

I also found this post. Someone has a very similar issue. But no feedback on the problem.

https://dodgeforum.com/forum/dodge-r...-cranking.html


I haven't actually used the autostart feature for a while, so for it to engange the crank for no reason is just as likely as the truck doing it itself. Ignition, starter relay... or the starter itself.


The question for me is. If I wasn't there to stop the fire, how far would the fire have gone?
If this is a design problem, how many other people have had this problem but the fire caused so much damage, one could not tell where the fire started??

I'll be back with diagnosis info.

 

Got a new starter in. Autostarter unplugged.
I have the old starter, and I'm going to open it up and have a look.
Truck idle sounds very different now.

 

Better have a look and see if any other wires got burnt......

 

pics

of

the

carnage?

 

Since only the starter caught on fire... here is carnage of the starter.

It appears all the damage is in the bottom half of the starter's Motor windings. The solenoid appears fine... but I did find that the one pin connector is shorted to ground? (See photo with mulit meter)

Not sure of the fire caused the short... A new starter is in now. Autostarter is still unplugged.

 

You're going to swear by an auto start system that costs less then $100? I'd still be looking at that autostart as your problem. Whether its the box itself or the install, I cannot say.

When you say it idles differently, do you mean it idles higher, lower, just sounds different...? If it just sounds different, how is the sound different?

 

I'll have to ask the owner. I do know that he says it idles at a lower RPM.
"Just feels different"....