It isn't likely that anyone is going to be able to make a correct guess over the internet as to what shorted first. You are going to have to search it out. So, check if the main cable is fried all the way to the starter.

 

This is pretty bad. I've never seen the main ground wire get that hot? Its usually the live+ wire. You have to pull the whole harness n uncover all the loom. Also if you just installed the plug per coil, start with that. I've mixed up on wire on my coil pack and also fried my harness.

 

since its already been bumped back to life...

what was the cause of the shorting issue?

 

I saw the wiring harness start to melt from the cam position sensor,so I replaced the engine wiring harness and the cam position sensor....btw I heard someone had the same issue as me too,but didn't melt as bad as mine. I had fix this problem for a month now and my car is still running fine.hope this will help you guy .

 

I want to say the battery ground.

 

this guy knows his stuff.

In order for this to happoen it had to be either a power wire shorting to ground or a ground wire that got power. Either way id replace that engine harness and not even mess with that one.

 

It is possible that the starter shorted or drawing too much amps to fry a ground cable. First time
I seen this happen on an Evo.

 

More likely a bad connection. Resistance equals heat.

 

By looking at the pic. on the batt. ground cable, looks like too much amps went through it. A short to ground on the ground side would not cause it. GL on the repair.

 

this just happened to my car how much is it normally to replace an engine harness.

 

I would imagine a couple hundred

 

Any idea what caused this?

 

You probably had high resistance at a connection in the circuit and had a high amp draw leading to an over heat in a wire causing the wire to melt and catch fire...
In simple words that really sucks good luck!

 

$800-1200

 

this happened to me also.. except it only melted the ground wire by the cam sensor? Does anyone know were the o-ring ground routes to by that sensor?