Electrical problem with a Craftsman LT 2000

Hello

This was a first in my experience to have a positive wire melting a positive connector on the battery... I have recently noticed that the positive wire was quite warm after trying to start the engine(had a problem with the OHV), and didn't think anything of it, I tested the positive wire pack to the starting solenoid and have found that if I touch the positive and negative wires to the battery, and touch the positive wire to the starting solenoid and turn the key, I get a spark at the battery. Now my question is it a bad ground to the solenoid, or the solenoid itself(not the best at electrical things), or what?

Thank you for any response...

Some electricity 101
Unless a terminal is clamped tight it will throw sparks.
Wires get hot when too much power ( AMPS ) is traveling through them.
Anything that prevents the free flow of power ,

from a loose or dirty terminal to an air gap increases resistence ths causes Amps to rise and makes wire hotter.
An arc welder is nothint more than a short circuit with an air gap in it.
A wire broken at a terminal & just barely touching will do the same thing.

Mower wiring is thin so any more than 2 minutes of continious cranking can cus wires to get hot enough to melt even if all the contacts are good.
It is a self feeding loop.
The hotter a wire becomes the higher its resistance gets which increses the amps which causes more heat which raises the reistance.

Generally the ground connections are the culprits as they get really grotty.

Thank You

With my little knowledge, I thought the ground on the starting solenoid may be the problem. Thanks again.