I recently did an engine swap to a 96 cougar xr-7 after I blew my origional engine. I have the intake manifold and throttle body and wiring harness off of the f150 since the connections didn't work with the cougar top end. But there is a wire that connects from the intake manifold (left side) by a bolt and it is connected to the firewall (by the starter solenoid) with a stud. When I went to connect my negative battery cable the wire started smoking so I took it off wiggled **** around and connected it again and it was fine so I took it off went along with putting the finishing things on the engine and went to connect it again and this time the wire heated to red and melted in half and the battery cable welded itself to the battery so I took that fried wire off and connected the batter and everything was fine. Can anyone tell me what that wire is for and if its important to have? Before I did the swap I went to disconnect it and it was split in 2 so I apparently ran without it for who knows how long

 

Tried to start it with out the cable and the battery light and passenger airbag light on the dash don't shut off. I get the low voltage solenoid click. Might be a dead battery but I highly doubt it since its brand new