replace starter, wont start, dash smokes...

ok my dad just replaced his starter in his 91 ls and he said now his dash starts to smoke if he cranks it. now im not sure what exactly the conditions are i havent been over to his house to get the scoop i am going to look at it today but has anyone had a problem like this?

i know its not easy diag with no info so thats why im goin to look at it today but would that be a main relay? also i dont know what side of the dash hes refering to could be starter relay, or even bad ground. but im generally lookin for if anyones had that problem or kno off the top of there head what might cause that. also not sure if he had electrical issues before he replaced the starter, like i said its a pain with lack of info just lookin for a little heads up

turns out he only had the smoke when he had a battery charger on it and cranked it. so eliminates that. replaced main and fuel relays and still no start. the starter relay IS clicking so thats good. im going to have him check for power at the starter and go from there.

make sure it a good ecu I had a bad ecu once an did that

Does engine crank and not start or will it not even crank?

If it does not crank, try a “bypass jump”, using a 10ga jumper lead connect one end to the batt. pos.(+) post, unplug the control lead at the starter, [solenoid] touch other end of jumper lead to the terminal on the starter, [the one you unplgged], BE CAREFULL, make sure car is not in gear, engine will crank even if the car is in gear, ign. is off and no one is stepping on clutch. 94