Ground wire smoking

[zombieman]

here's my story. a mechanic quoted my friend camry would cost over a grand to rebuild. so told her i would be able to do it for half the price by buying a used japanese motor. so i ended up doing it for her. before i swap the motor, the car was starting and running. now that i'm finish.

the car won't even turn over. all i hear is a clicking noise which lead me to believe somehow the starter got bad between the time i begin the swap to the time i'm finish. i turned the headlight on and crank the car. the dash light went out. so i thought the connection fell off. i turn the positive terminal a little and now the dash lights up again. as i pay attention closely, i notice the ground wire from the engine was smoking. so i came to this conclusion, that there's resistance somewhere that's causing the ground to smoke or is it that the fact that no current is flowing back to the positive terminal. please help me on this. i refuse to believe that the starter went bad after 48 hours of working on this car. everytime i try to turn the ignition on, all i get is clicking noise and the ground begin to smoke.

[DAEDALUS]

I dunno, but in case it's not obvious, it sounds like there's a direct short circuit between + and - when you turn the key. You'll damage something like that, the battery at the very least.

[250sx]

I know this may sound stupid but you sure the motor isnt frozen? or does it at least crank a little?

[hachibroku]

Check to see if the starter is wired up right. my buddy didnt do it and it burnt up the ground.