I recently bought a 96 Blazer, and it had a bad battery so I switched the battery and drove it for a while. The next day went to start it and a big cloud of smoke came out of the hood and the positive cable is melted. Side post melted off the battery. Thinking it could be a starter not sure though never had this problem before. Has anyone else had this same issue or maybe know what causes this?

 

Bad ground wire??? I would double check all of your connections, battery, starter, alternator....something was pulling some major amps....or the battery plates shorted out internally.

 

starter ended up being shorted out inside, frying my positive cable and melting my new battery post.thanks for thehelp/ideas