Smoking/Melting Cable
 

Mother-in-law gave this Mariner to my sons (Father-in-law's before he passed), and the second son who now drives it had an issue with smoke coming from the engine. The only possible source we found was this cable - See circled in attached pic. It looks like the wrap has melted in some places. It isn't connected to anything, so I'm assuming it is a ground cable??? What would make this melt and smoke? Could the smoke be from another source - it is coming from the front, left side of the engine in this area but I could not find anything else that looked to be the possible source. Is it easy to fix with parts from local auto store? My son and I are novices at this but always willing to learn about cars/engines together. At 17 he's changed his own oil and brakes,
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https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mer...635af9a89.jpeg
and loves it!!!!