Smoke coming from starter solenoid

[Hamilton29]

I have a 99 force 75 hp. Thing was running like a dream then out of no where I blew a fuse, no biggie right? So I put in a new fuse and blew it again. (Did this 5 or 6 times). So I got a new key ignition (I needed a new one anyway) didn't fix the problem. Ran voltage tests all over and was good. Then I ran continuity tests on the starter and starter solenoid. Solenoid was bad so I went to oreilleys and got a new one. Installed it and it worked. Well, except for the fact that the wire hooked up to the "I" primary terminal totally melted out and smoked like crazy. So I cut out the bad spots in the wire, spliced in a new wire with gold plated connections and cleaned all other connection points, put it all back together and the same thing happened. Any advice would be wonderful!

 

[Chris1956]

You obviously have a power wire touching a ground wire, likely the starter solenoid wire. You might repost this in the Mercury/force forum, as it is likely an engine wiring problem.

 

[Hamilton29]

You obviously have a power wire touching a ground wire, likely the starter solenoid wire. You might repost this in the Mercury/force forum, as it is likely an engine wiring problem.

Thank you, I will try to do that. I'm new to forums lol. But I appreciate your response.

 

[Hamilton29]

I have a 99 force 75 hp. Thing was running like a dream then out of no where I blew a fuse, no biggie right? So I put in a new fuse and blew it again. (Did this 5 or 6 times). So I got a new key ignition (I needed a new one anyway) didn't fix the problem. Ran voltage tests all over and was good. Then I ran continuity tests on the starter and starter solenoid. Solenoid was bad so I went to oreilleys and got a new one. Installed it and it worked. Well, except for the fact that the wire hooked up to the "I" primary terminal totally melted out and smoked like crazy. So I cut out the bad spots in the wire, spliced in a new wire with gold plated connections and cleaned all other connection points, put it all back together and the same thing happened. Any advice would be wonderful!

 

[GA_Boater]

Is the new solenoid a Ford or Force part? You may have the wrong solenoid.

The "I" connection in a Ford is used to supply 12 volts to the coil for a hotter spark when starting.

 

[Hamilton29]

Is the new solenoid a Ford or Force part? You may have the wrong solenoid.

The "I" connection in a Ford is used to supply 12 volts to the coil for a hotter spark when starting.

This is the one I replaced my old one with (both pictured) I bet that is exactly my problem. So in theory I think then if that is the case I can still use that solenoid just only use three terminals? (Thats what the packaging said would be a possibility) or am I wrong?

 

[racerone]

Get the right parts !-----Not automotive.----Hopefully you have not damaged any other parts with your experimenting.

 

[jerryjerry05]

You can probably use the new solenoid but you
have it wired wrong. The new one, the base might
need grounding?
Get a factory service manual, find the wiring
diagram and rewire.

 

[Hamilton29]

Thanks to everyone for the input, jerryjerry05 was correct i did infact have it wired wrong. Got it taken care of and she's back to running like a dream.