Cd mobting plate ground smoking during start

Picked up the 2001 140 the other day been trying to get it started, the solenoid was bad so i took one off my mercury wired it in and cranked it in doing so the ground wire at the bottom of the cd mounting plate gets hot and is melting the insulation, i took it loose and tried to start it and it threw a spark from around the choke coil but wouldn't crank, put the ground back on and it turned over but still smoking the ground wire, any ideas? It smoking the gnd wire when i was jumping out the original solenoid too so it's not a solenoid wiring issue.

Ok i tightened the ground, and tried it, sucker fired right up surprised the hell out of me, I took the thermostat out and tested it yesterday and it was working how long should it take to open and start peeing, im going to order parts for it today or tomorrow, just wanted to see if it was going to run before i put anymore money into it.

It pees immediately; the thermostat has nothing to do with it. You probably need a water pump kit. Available from any dealer including me.
Part #: 3C7873222M
List Price (MSRP): $105.00

Thanks, I put one on, only real problem I have left for now is the tach wiring I have a blk, wht, red and green, I do not yet have the service manual and am not sure which is suppsed to be the tach signal, when i put the key in aux position i get 12vdc on the wht with the black being negative nothing readable from the red or green running or in aux. Any help appreciated.

OK, the key switch is OFF, ON, and START.

As for the short pigtail coming out of the RC box:
Black is ground. Tach yellow connects to this.
White is Tach signal.
Red is 12v power.
Light Green can be used for the tach light.

Now cylinder 4 is losing spark, so is three but not nearly as bad, I need the service manual, can I get that through you Paul?

Part #: 003-21036-1
List Price (MSRP): $50.00
In stock.

This website?