88 campervan. Starter wire goes to battery. After driving for awhile my starter overheats. Van will not start and have overheated many a solenoid. I bought a blanket for the starter but have the same problem. I put in heat shields and same problem.
any advice would be appreciated.

 

There was a time a heat shield came with the vehicle due to this problem..

Somebody must have replaced the starter and never put the heat shield back on. If you have the factory shield and still have the problem, there may be a problem with the starter itself.. As you know by this time the solenoid once overheated can also contribute to the problem.

 

Starter is new. It's possible I had the ignition wire on I and the starter on S, when they should both be on S. You think that's what caused the starter to get so dam hot?

 

This is the way I believe it is supposed to work.

First NO ignition wire on anything to the starter.!

One terminal of the solenoid on the fender, firewall if van, gets energized when key is in start position. That solenoid sends battery power directly to the starter.
Once key is released back to run position, solenoid should have NO POWER going to it. !