Problem: I started my truck this morning with NO issues. It turned over for about 2 seconds and fired right up. It was 8 degrees below zero this morning so I was impressed with how well it started without the block heater plugged in. After running for about 30 seconds I changed the elevated idle from OFF to ON. It revved to 1200 RPM like normal and I went inside. After about 10 minutes I went out to leave and tapped the brake and the high idle kicked off. After about 10 seconds I noticed an electrical burning smell and the lights dimmed just for a second. When I saw smoke coming from under the hood I shut the truck off. I opened the hood and smoke rolled out.
After some rolling around in the snow I got to the starter and put my hand on it. It was so hot I could not hold my hand on it. I then noticed that there was black melted plastic or motor potting dripping off of that corner of the oil pan below the starter.
Questions:
1. What is the warranty on the starter? My truck is a 2005 with almost 49,000 miles.
2. What kind of PIA is it to change the starter...in the cold without a garage...
3. I did some initial searching on a few of the forums and I cannot find a similar issue anywhere.
Thanks in advance.

My guess would be your starter never disengauged from the flywheel. Then it burned up from the engine over running it.
Call a dealer and see what they say. I would think you could get that covered.

What part of the warranty do you think would cover it?

I spoke with a local service manager and he said it was not covered. He seemed pretty clueless otherwise...but that seems to be the norm at some places.

Anyone have a good place to look for warranty info?

This happened to our 04. It was a shorted wire to the starter on the bellhousing i believe.

Was it covered by the warranty?

we were at 96k, i dont think my uncle even took it to the dealer.

Thanks

$209 for a NEW Napa Starter and about an hours work. Works like new. Now I just have to figure a way to get rid of the burning electrical smell.