Battery Positive cable heating up and burning positive wire 1989 C1500

[Teriria]

Hi fellas, I've been wracking my brain trying figure out why when the battery is connected these the positive battery cable gets hot as hell and immediately spark when I try and connect it to a battery. This is my first time working on any car so I don't know a lot as this was a given to me.

 

[0xDEADBEEF]

Either you mixed up the positive and negative or you have bad cable that is shorting to ground.

 

[PlayingWithTBI]

Get a bigger cable - JUST KIDDING! As @0xDEADBEEF said, you have a short somewhere.

 

[AK49BWL]

Dead short in the main power wires... Check the positive wires going to the fuse block and the starter for missing insulation and burn spots. I'm guessing it's gonna be the starter wire personally. COULD be the result of a bad starter itself too, just throwing that out there. Everything else is fused except those two main lines tho.

 

[PlayingWithTBI]

I'm guessing it's gonna be the starter wire personally. COULD be the result of a bad starter itself too, just throwing that out there. Everything else is fused except those two main lines tho.

IIRC the hot wire going to the power distribution block has a fusible link just below it.

 

[AK49BWL]

IIRC the hot wire going to the power distribution block has a fusible link just below it.

You are correct, I tend to forget that little guy lol

 

[PlayingWithTBI]

Thinking about it, if the starter wire is getting hot AND the distribution one isn't, you have your answer there