1978 85hp Evinrude won't turn off

[MadtownChris]

Second post in as many minutes but different subject...

I have a 1978 85hp Evinrude that won't shut off using the key about 25% of the time. I've read about the problem and it sounds like an electrical connection problem (duh) and that when the key is on, some circuit is open; then when key is off circuit is continuous.

I'm hoping you can help me short-cut some of the diagnostics due to one observation I have. When I shut the key off and the motor still runs, if I wiggle the steering wheel and move the engine a bit, it shuts off. So does that mean I have some loose wire in the powerhead? Any ideas what I should look at first?

Otherwise I've been wiggling it and/or choking it to shut it down so it's not a tragic problem yet.

Thanks!

Chris

 

[KRH1326]

Look in this guide, and find your motor... There should be a section on won't shut off. I had this issue on my V-6 175 and it turned out to be a bad wire connection on the kill circuit of one power pack... When I shut it off, one pack and bank of cylinders would shut off, but the starboard side kept "dieseling". Give it throttle and it would stall out and shut off.
http://issuu.com/cdielectronics/docs/cdi_troubleshooting_guide_-_2012_1?e=2044661/2001100

 

[emdsapmgr]

Like KRH, I had a similar problem. One bank of my 79 200 would shut off when the key was turned to off, the other bank kept firing and the engine kept running. Turned out the power pack was bad internally. Replaced the pack and the problem went away.

 

[Will Bark]

Check your connection at the big red harness plug, by shaking the engine you have a loose/bad connection under the cowl. Good luck