Black wire w/ yellow stripe on solonoid?

Ok so on the solonoid there is red positive wire from battery, Then bigger black wire from solonoid to starter. Then there is the little black wire to solonoid, THEN theres the black / yellow stripe wire on the solonoid what would make the black wire w/yellow stripe get smoking hot???????HELP !!!!

Sorry didnt notice it was on engine forum. Meant to be electrical....

Pics would help.
Steve
Typical color codes

the black wire with yello stripe got hot?

Those two small gauge wires run to the starter button in the handlebars.

If it's overheating, then there must be either a voltage or resistance issue

The wire got hot while cranking. Disconnected black wire w/yellow stripe . Tried starting started no wires hot. What would the black wire w/yellow stripe being disconnected do or not do?

The solenoid pulls a lot of juice. They connect behind the plug panel. Could also be bad connections there.
Steve

That's the ground for the starter circuit. Disconnecting it will prevent the starter button from completing the circuit and activating the solenoid

Something is up then. Bike starts with wire disconnected??????

Unlike other motorcycle makes, most/all Kz starter buttons do not provide a ground for the starter solenoid circuit. They provide +12v power.

The starter solenoid is just a relay. The big wires are for the starter motor current which connects to the contacts of the relay. The two little wires are only for the coil portion of the relay. Unlike some other brands, the solenoid coil wires are isolated so they can be used in either polarity.

On your bike, normally, the starter button provides 12v to the solenoid's coil (possibly going through a clutch-lever lockout switch as well). When the button is pressed you should have 12v on the small black wire and the small black/yellow wire is the ground for the solenoid's coil.

If either small wire is disconnected, the solenoid should not activate, thus the starter motor should not turn. If it does, then it is mis-wired, or the solenoid was replaced with a different type. Can someone confirm if the solenoid in the photo is the original Kz solenoid or not? To me, it doesn't look very Kz-ish. But I'm more familiar with the smaller bikes.

Really, what's needed is to know if the two small wires are isolated from the other connections and the case. Do a continuity test and make sure the small wires have no internal connection to either of the big terminals or the case at all, and only have continuity to each other.

As a side note, not to the bike in this discussion, but to other Kz owners who may be reading this...
That area, around the starter solenoid, is the one place where Kawasaki departed from its normal wire color convention. Normally, black with a yellow stripe is ground. But for some reason,( and I've studied my share of Kz wiring diagrams), Kawasaki decided to use black/yellow or plain black as the power side of the solenoid coil and red/yellow or yellow as the ground side. Some Kz's, for example the Kz1000, which may be like the one in this discussion, stick with the normal convention, but many of the other Kz's, usually the smaller ones, seem to use the irregular convention. In any case, it's purely a matter of agreeing with the wiring diagram or not. Functionally, as mentioned above, the solenoid coil wires can be used either way, so many owners tend to swap the wires to follow the normal convention of black/yellow being ground (that is permanent ground, not a switched ground or a switched positive).

Solenoids from other makes sometimes have more complicated configurations where there might be a fuse or additional connections for various things. These often can't be wired as simply as the Kz solenoid.

Well, I found out what was causing the black wire with yellow stripe to get hot. Taking the board off and on , moving around checking all the connections I evidently moved/bent the black wire that goes to starter enough where it was touching where the black w/yellow stripe attached to solonoid. I moved and all is well again. Whew.. Thanks for all the help guys what a GREAT forum !!!!!!

PS: Check the picture you will see what I mean. Where the big terminal is where the wire to starter goes was bent down enuf to where the black w/yellow stripe wire attaches.