Power and Ground Distribution scare, help much appreciated...

[DisturbedMXer8]

Recently I've been noticing my starter doesn't like to crank my engine when it's hot (i.e. after I have the engine warmed up, and I stop for 10 minutes or so for gas or whatever). One day I filled up and it straight would NOT start back up. It eventually started to crank, and it took 6 or so cycles before it fired up. This truck normally starts the instant I turn the key. Well I noticed while cranking that some smoke was coming from underneath my hood (not steam, smoke), and found this when I popped the hood:

Those are my ground cables. It's (obviously) an aftermarket terminal that I replaced my old one with while I was searching for bad grounds due to my other problem (if you've seen that thread). That's my starter relay ground on the far right, battery to block ground in the middle (big red one), and the little black one goes from there right to my core support. Now, why in the world would my ground wires melt together all the sudden? High current from the starter? Last time I checked that shit's all used up when it hits ground (granted it's disconnected from the batter, but still...).

When I disconnect that negative terminal and measure avail. voltage there (negative post to negative cable terminal) I get about 10 volts, key off engine off. Is this normal? I didn't think there should be any voltage there key off engine off. I'm starting to suspect a short to power on the ground side somewhere, but I've no idea what all to test. Again, with negative cable disconnected, I get about 10 or so volts at the block, core support, cylinder heads, intake manifold, etc... this has to be a short to power, right?

I'm thinking this will not only solve my starting/melting grounds problem, but possibly my other one as well. Can anyone help me out? Is this normal, or or am I shorted somewhere?

 

[Earl43P]

Battery won't last long if you are!

Sounds like a bad starter, but disconnect the alternator too. One of those two are probably faulty, disconnecting each should tell you which. Disconnect the battery before you touch either one. Obviously gonna need some new cables. I'd do them all after a mess like that.

Those older trucks have a single wire to the starter, right? Shouldn't get power unless the solenoid on the fender routes it there.

Make sure you have good grounds from B- to core support, frame and block. A lot of people "eliminate" the B- to frame and just go straight to block with a generic replacement cable. You really need all three.

 

[DisturbedMXer8]

Key off engine off I'm not getting voltage to the starter cable. Also, how would my alternator be creating voltage if my engine isn't on? Not trying to criticize here, I'm trying to learn. Also, why would the starter be causing voltage on my negative side like that? It's actually a fairly new starter, I put it in last year when my original one went bad.

Basically my big question is: is this a short to power somewhere or is it normal to have voltage on the ground side like this?