I have a 2000 Eclipse and there are 3 wires.

JAIROQUE

MEMBER
2000 MITSUBISHI ECLIPSE
200,000 MILES

I have a 2000 eclipse and there are 3 wires connected or grounded to the left side of the engine block one of the wires is getting hot to the point where its melting the outside cover of the wire. The car will not turn over iv change the starter, battery, and the alternator is good

Monday, December 31st, 2012 AT 7:55 PM

3 Replies

CARADIODOC

MECHANIC
34,172 POSTS

This is just a guess but it sounds like the negative battery cable is bad. You won't get anywhere near enough current to run the starter motor, and if the engine IS running, the generator's charging current will have to find an alternate path to get back to the battery. That would certainly overheat a small diameter wire. If that wire is overheating when trying to start the engine, that also indicates the starter current can't make it through the large ground cable and is trying to go through that tiny wire.

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Monday, December 31st, 2012 AT 8:05 PM

JAIROQUE

MEMBER
3 POSTS

Ok I change out my negative cable wire and the wires stop over heating thanks but for some reason the car still will not turn over I got a new battery 5 days ago do you think I need to jump the car off

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Tuesday, January 1st, 2013 AT 7:33 PM

CARADIODOC

MECHANIC
34,172 POSTS

Measure the battery voltage. The generator's charging current also goes through that large battery cable and if it was bad, the battery would have a hard time charging up. A fully-charged battery will measure 12.6 volts. If you find less than that, charge it at a slow rate for an hour, then try to start the engine.

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Tuesday, January 1st, 2013 AT 10:42 PM