chrisb, you are to be commended for locating the faulty connection. Regarding your stated intent to get a new connector: You should consider if there is really a "need" for replacing the existing connector with another new connector. The point here is that the faulty connection you found has already served, and outlived its original purpose. The connector was to facilitate an easy, OEM assembly line build procedure, and nothing more. Or think of it this way: How many times since you acquired the tractor, have you disconnected and reconnected that plug (not counting the last couple of days)? Go to an auto parts store and get a small package of crimp type wire butt splice connectors. Get the kind that have a heat shrinkable covering already in place. For the size wire you are dealing with you want to get BLUE color splices (for wires 14 AWG). Cut the wires as close to the OEM connector halves as you can get. Then, strip away about 3/16" to 1/4" of insulation from the end of each wire. Connect the wire ends together with a butt splice connector using wire crimping pliers and then use a butane lighter or electric heat gun to shrink the thermoplastic covering of the butt splice down to seal the splice. Your intentions (to replace the OEM connector with a new one) are good, but logistically speaking, replacement OEM connectors are difficult, if not impossible, to buy. Unless the connectors are essential for frequent, routine removal of an electrical component, just eliminate any faulty, corroded ones you find by using a heat shrinkable butt splice. If you find a defective or corroded connector plug in a situation where the wiring must be separated and reconnected often, of course you need to retain that configuration. But, if the connector is one that served only the OEM build procedure.....trash can it.

To answer your question regarding using the old solenoid wires to connect your new solenoid, yes it can be done but like the previous post by homr mentioned you really want to find the original connections as you might have a perfectly good solenoid and just a bad connection. I've been to so many jobs that have poor connections at the solenoid (the latest was very conservative amount of electrical tape that taped the connections together), and what happens when those connections get exposed to the ground is that the controller will think there is something wrong, either an open or short circuit. Any easy way to find out if the solenoid is bad, like homr mentioned, is to perform a resistance test with a voltage meter. When you test the resistance at the controller it should read somewhere between 20-50 ohms, if there is nothing then you know there is open circuit somewhere. You would want to conduct this test one more time at the wires that go directly into the solenoid out in the yard. If you find you have resistance at the test in the yard then you know you have a wire break somewhere between the valve and the controller.

Since you put so many conditions in one sentence, all conditions must be true to give a yes answer. Therefore no, since ONE of the conditions isn't necessarily true. For your second sentence, one would need a schematic and a better description. IF you are talking about having the switch unplugged and measuring continuity between various terminals, then STATE that you are going from terminal to terminal. When you say "lights" etc., one doesn't know if you mean the light wiring or light terminal. Without knowing what tractor this is, in order to see if a schematic is available, you might want to tell us that info. Also break your questions down to ONE condition at a time.

***"not necessary to disconnect both cables when working on electrical, just the negative/black?"*** That is correct.....So long as the negative/black cable is in fact, the GROUND cable for the vehicle electrical system. And in most machines built in the last 40 years or so, the negative/black is the ground conductor. But you must "cling to" every word of the description. "Negative", "Black", "Ground"! Each word must be considered as a separate and individual criterion when you are preparing to "put a tool" to the battery terminals. (this is a lesson, listen up) There are currently (no pun) no laws governing the colors of wires and cables used in AUTOMOTIVE applications. There are "generally accepted and recognized practices", but no REGULATIONS. Black is nearly universally used as the color (by OEMs) of the negative battery cable, Red for positive cable, but some OEMs might decide to use black cables for BOTH positive and negative conductors leading from the battery posts. And, additionally, you must always consider that the original RED positive cable.....might have been replaced with a BLACK cable. Furthermore, the OEM, BLACK negative cable, might have been replaced with a RED one (you see all kinds of things in "used equipment". The odds of finding a BLACK cable for the positive conductor are actually pretty good, while the odds for finding a RED cable for the negative conductor are slim (but I have found them more than once). Nonetheless, since it only requires that you "look at" the markings on the battery (positive+, negative-), that is what you MUST DO,.... each and every time you prepare to "put a tool" on a battery terminal. ALSO, when you identify the negative post/cable of the battery......trace the cable to where it connects next. If the negative cable connects to the vehicle frame, chassis, or engine block....it is the GROUND conductor. This configuration is what you will find on just about every machine/vehicle of recent manufacture. But, it makes sense to understand the relationship of "color vs. polarity vs. function" in a vehicle electrical system. IF the black cable is connected to the negative battery post at one end, and to the "vehicle ground" at the other end.........that is the only cable you need to remove from the battery in order to render the electrical system "inert" and safe to work on. Even that statement will have "limitations" if the vehicle has advanced electronics and engine/cab controls, but for MOST L&G tractors, it is the best, safest, practice. ................................................... Getting back to your Huskee. Before doing the next test, disconnect the GROUND cable from the battery. Leave all wires connected to the solenoid "posts",.... connected for the test. The black/blue pair will be removed but reconnected in this procedure. To further test whether the solenoid is defective (shorting inside the solenoid), if the first series of tests point in that direction, remove the mounting bolts of the solenoid (where solenoid mtg bracket fastens to chassis/frame. Reconnect the black/blue pair of wires to their same chassis/frame bolt and secure with nut. Use some kind of non-metallic, electrically insulating material (suitable piece of cardboard, carpet, even an old sneaker will do) to set the solenoid on so it can't touch a grounded surface (chassis). Once you have the solenoid resting on the non-metallic material, reconnect the ground cable to the battery negative post. Now, operate the ignition switch to the start position. If the fuse does not "blow" now, it indicates the solenoid has an internal short to ground (fuse DID NOT blow because no ground was provided for the "short" to use). Don't expect the solenoid to operate during the test. Access to the solenoid on my Huskee is somewhat "difficult at best", but I find I can get a better view of it by going in from the right side floorboard/step area (front end of center console and backside of engine). I have to lock the brake/clutch pedal down to get more room for my head. In taking the photos, I went through the battery access under seat AND from the other end I described above.