Mercontrol wires falling apart inside the control box, now what?

hotrod53

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Oct 16, 2009
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I had the Mercontrol apart to replace the cables and discovered that a previous owner had made a wiring nightmare inside. All of the solder joints on the ignition switch were cold solder joints, wires were fraying, and it was just a whole lot of ugly. Long story short, my wires are all cracked, insulation is falling off, and I have a loose pin on the back of the ignition switch.

This is a blue band Merc with I assume the control box that came with it in 1977. Is this wiring harness still available?
 

alldodge

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Mar 8, 2009
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I had the Mercontrol apart to replace the cables and discovered that a previous owner had made a wiring nightmare inside. All of the solder joints on the ignition switch were cold solder joints, wires were fraying, and it was just a whole lot of ugly. Long story short, my wires are all cracked, insulation is falling off, and I have a loose pin on the back of the ignition switch.

This is a blue band Merc with I assume the control box that came with it in 1977. Is this wiring harness still available?

Got pics ????
 

hotrod53

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Oct 16, 2009
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Update.... I found a vendor who had an OEM Mercury harness ...:) . I cut all of the wires out of the box and strung the new harness through the boat. UNFORTUNATELY, I also bought a new ignition switch that was supposed to be a new OEM switch. The truth is, it was an old stock switch in a filthy box that someone had removed and replaced the switch in the box with the wrong switch! My switch has 5 pins, this one although has the right part number on the box, is a new 4 terminal switch with an old rusty fender washer with it in the box. End result ... Another week in dry dock
 

buddhapi

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Jul 14, 2009
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those old harnesses literally rot to death inside the control box without ever even being messed with. it's old stuff. I've run into this a couple times in my life and just go to ebay and buy another good used setup with cables and all for like $150. the reason for the loose pin on your old switch is because the wires shorted out and the switch started melting inside.
 

hotrod53

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Oct 16, 2009
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The vendor is sending me a new switch but it has to come from Mercury to hm then to me. Looks like another week in the driveway!
 

hotrod53

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Oct 16, 2009
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508
Update: I received my ignition switch yesterday, installed it yesterday afternoon, and I'm now waiting on my buddy to come over this week with the new cables. Hopefully I'll be in the water next week.
 

hotrod53

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Oct 16, 2009
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508
Update, wiring is done, cables are installed and adjusted, all checkout looks good, ready for the water!
 
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