2004 mercury 50hp starts when pos terminal attached

[marvin d miller]

I rescently noticed my tilt and trim did not work. I found the corroded red wire when it fell out of the wire harness under the dash and fixed it by connecting the wires together and not reconnecting them to the harness. The motor started fine, tilt worked fine and the motor ran fine until I turned it off. I tried to start it again and the starter would not disengage. I had to disconnect the positive wire from the battery to stop the starter. Each time I try to reconnect the positive wire to the battery the motor trys to start.

 

[hotrod53]

Re: 2004 mercury 50hp starts when pos terminal attached

The starter solenoid is nothing but a relay, its coil puts direct battery voltage to the starter. If you pull off the thin wire from the solenoid and it still tries to start, your starter solenoid is bad. If you remove the small wire and it doesn't try and start, something is wrong in the start circuit, probably in the controls. You can even measure voltage on the small solenoid wire with the large wire to the starter removed, hitting the starter button should switch the 12V supply. Started solenoids can get welded contacts internally.