Hello I have 1988 GTA 305ci. and I just bought it and when the guy was delivering it getting it off the trailer it kept stalling.. And from what I believe he smoked the ignition wire down by the solenoid because there was a poof of smoke and that was it no power....I got underneath it today to tap in a new fusible link and it keeps frying them.. So I went picked up a new solenoid same thing fried another link?????......The original solenoid had only one post for that very small wire and the new one has 2 posts... I decided to use the closest and easiest to access terminal for that little wire... That wouldn't be my problem would it? I am only frying the ignition side wire not the other one that is connected together with it....Any ideas would be most helpful!!! I'm very new to cars and need to be talked to in very easy terms.. Thank You SOO MUCH IF YOU RESPOND!!!

 

[insert loud obnoxious buzzer sound here]

If you look closely at the solenoid, you'll see that there's a little letter "S" next to the one closer to the block, and "R" next to the other.

"S" stands for "solenoid", which is where the purple wire should go. "R" stands for "relay", which back in the 60s when they were using a points type ignition system, allowed the starter to bypass the ballast resistor during startup, thus delivering a slightly hotter (but unsustainable) spark for that short time.

Your car should have the purple wire hooked to the "S" terminal, and the "R" should have nothing whatsoever attached to it. Sounds like you got a starter that has a "universal" solenoid on it, such that it can be used on either a points type or an electronic ignition car. The "R" terminal is not used in your car butt of course doesn't hurt anything by being there (unless of course you hook a wire to it).

​​​​​​​Sounds to me like there's some other problem going on in your car, but you haven't given enough info to even GUESS at what it might be.

 

Wow man I will be swapping out that wire to the other terminal tomorrow first thing then tomorrow....I just hope I didnt do any further damage. I will let you know tomorrow how stupid I am lol.. Thank you for your reply!