Derekcat

iTrader: (8)

Manual converted 87 NA:
I just replaced my pilot bearing and throwout bearing [after a grueling 10hrs in the cold ~_~]

But on my test run, a couple issues appeared: leaving the gas station I tried to go WOT to redline and somewhere around 4 or maybe 5K the engine shut off for a split second.. The tach died and the radio's face shut off but the radio face came back on when I revved a little, tach came back when I restarted the car.

Perhaps it's related to the other issue: the signal terminal or the + terminal of the starter solenoid has been *massively* overheating at some point[s] my spade connector's plastic was virtually all melted off and the wire had obviously taken a lot of heat [this part also applies to the + wire.. The boot is partially burned off and the wire looks like it's seen a lot of heat] -- I'm not sure what the cause for all of this could be though.. It's imitating the stock automatic setup [but with the actual neutral/park switch replaced by a short piece of wire..]

The connector supplying signal is the 4-pin connector that also has the reverse lights wired into it. From the factory the automatic transmission side connector has two wires running for the reverse lights [crimped to the reverse sensor's wires with two spades going into the 4-pin] and the other two wires going to the neutral/park safety switch, but with a third wire coming out of one side and going to the starter signal tab.

So the question is: could insufficient wire gauge be the cause of the heat/meltyness? I've been running this setup for just over two years without issue.. I don't remember seeing anything out of the ordinary back in may when the engine was replaced.. Perhaps something else could cause the massive heat there? Oh also the plastic on the back of the solenoid is burnt.. Strangely it still works perfectly despite all the heat damage.. Bad solenoid? Bad starter motor? Could the throwout bearing failure have caused lots of heat and done the damage? [I drove for ~35minutes on the freeway with the old pilot bearing seal dancing around the pressure plate and the throwout bearing bad..]

satch

iTrader: (1)

A possible explanation would be that one of the wires you mentioned could have grounded out causing an increase in resistance, which would translate into heat, which could have resulted in the damage you observed. Visually checking the length of the wires would verify if this was the possible cause.