so diving home from work at 2 am tonight i lost all electrical for about 30 seconds, and when it came back on i could smell burning and saw a lot of smoke comming from out of the hood.
both the ground cable and the cable to the starter were completly burnt. afterwords the starter would not work.
and on the rest of the drive the voltmeter read beetween 12 and 14 volts, however it was fluctuating.

i'm thinking the voltage regulator might be gone, i had noticed it read high a few times recently.
any advice would be appreciated

 

is the battery secured, sounds like something really shorted out, volt reg mostlikely bad and check the alternator and of course it happens at 2am

 

starter overload?(brushes)

 

EXACTLY

I have seen this before .. battery contacting hood syndrome (or something) shorting oput the whole system ...

check your fuse links they should be burnt .. and then YES replace your regulator .. I have some good used ones (cheep) and I'm not far away .


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the battery is secured, i dont think that was the problem. i am 90% sure that my starter stuck on, it happend once before but not for long. when i started driving i noticed a strange sound but it sounded like it was comming form the transmission. i am guessing that this was the starter turning with the motor. it looks like the power to the starter melted and then shorted to the ground. i replaced the starter and the cables and everything seems to be fine now