Electrical Melting "I" Wires from Solenoid

[Skimoab]

I have an '81 Scrambler with an ignition system/solenoid issue. When I turn the key to "On/Run", the Ignition wire coming from the "I" lead on my solenoid gets warm, almost too hot to touch. When I turn the key to "Start" and crank it, the wire immediately gets too hot and starts melting the casing. This is the red wire that goes from the "I" lead to the coil and is also spliced into the red w/green tracer wire that heads toward the driver side where it is spliced again to go to the ICM and bulkhead connector.

(As you can see in the photo, my Jeep also has two wires that come off the "I" and "S" leads, the red one goes to the ECU while the black one is a ground to the engine block. I just don't see these in most pictures of the Solenoid so I thought I'd explain them since that "I" wire also melts.)

So my question is, is there a specific wire or ground I should be checking that might cause the extra "flow" through these wires? Is it likely on the solenoid side of the system, or could it be something with the ICM?

A little more background... Before this solenoid issue happened I was having issues where the engine would crank but not start. We checked the distributor and had no spark so I replaced that and still no spark. That lead us to the ignition system, we found the red w/green tracer wire to be pretty corroded (probably original) and heating up from continual cranking, so we replaced that and then started having the solenoid issues.

Sorry for the long post, hopefully it gives enough detail to maybe get some ideas?

 

[cglax6]

I don't have the wiring memorized, but I HIGHLY recommend downloading a wiring diagram for your Scrambler. It won't steer you wrong.

Also, I'm not 100% sure, but I don't think you should have a ground coming off of the "S" lead. I have a ground wire on the mounting bolt of the solenoid and nowhere else on it.

I also thought the "S" side of the solenoid had the battery power, and the "I" side has the cable going to the starter. Again, I could be wrong because I'm not in front of my CJ.

If you can't find a wiring diagram online, then do a search for "Ford solenoid wiring" in the ol' Goggle machine.

I have a hunch your wiring isn't correct.

 

[Skimoab]

@cglax6 Thanks so much for your response. I figured out that the two top wires in my picture don't belong there, they belong to a sensor that was in my old air box. Since I removed that airbox I had two spare wires with nowhere to go other than those connectors, which looked like a logical spot. So, rookie mistake.