Hey guys, Im new to the game so excuse my stupid questions i have.
I have a 1971 mercuriser with a gm 165 hp motor. 4.1 liter i belive
Ok here's the deal. Everything worked last summer, i went to crank it this week and the dash went dead. I found there was a breaker on the motor. I pressed the button and power was back up to the dash. Motor will crank and start running, but when i let off the crank postion on the igniton switch, it dies.
(this is where it gets confusing)
Ok, there are 3 wires going to the ingition switch. one has constant volts, one has volts when the key is in the "on" position. and one has volts when its in the "crank" position.
The wire that is always hot is RED
The wire that is the "ON" is white
The wire that is "CRANK" is yellow
Ok... when i crank the motor, the motor fires up. However when i let off the key from the crank position the motor dies. Ive been in hot pursuit to find out why this happens.
So, in my pursuit i noticed that with the key in the "ON" position that the white wire gets REALLY hot! so hot infact that it started melting the wires.
So i figure i have a short somewhere. sure enough i found 1. the wire harness was against the engine block on a casting burr and rubbed right into the wire.
This WHITE wire starts at the igntion switch, runs to all the guages, then runs back to the motor somewhere. (and i think where ever this runs too has to do with the motor not running.) I did find a white wire running to the coil. however i can not see if it runs to something before it hits the coil. Perhaps an ignitor? Ive never heard of an ignitor untill tonight. However if my ignitor was bad i dont understand how when i crank the motor it fires up. but when i let off the key i stops.
I tested my coil and am getting 1.5 ohm from positive to negitive. 12k ohms from positive to top of coil. same for negitive. according to what ive found online that seems to be within specs i think.
Any ideas?
Personally im ruling out the ignition switch being bad since im getting proper voltage from every contact when the key is in the corrosponding position.
And Id really be interested in what the white wire would be running to since it starts at the igntion switch, goes to the guages, then inters the main harness wire loom and goes all the way to the motor. somewhere behind the motor i lose bearing on the wire and cannot see where it heads too.
I have a 1971 mercuriser with a gm 165 hp motor. 4.1 liter i belive
Ok here's the deal. Everything worked last summer, i went to crank it this week and the dash went dead. I found there was a breaker on the motor. I pressed the button and power was back up to the dash. Motor will crank and start running, but when i let off the crank postion on the igniton switch, it dies.
(this is where it gets confusing)
Ok, there are 3 wires going to the ingition switch. one has constant volts, one has volts when the key is in the "on" position. and one has volts when its in the "crank" position.
The wire that is always hot is RED
The wire that is the "ON" is white
The wire that is "CRANK" is yellow
Ok... when i crank the motor, the motor fires up. However when i let off the key from the crank position the motor dies. Ive been in hot pursuit to find out why this happens.
So, in my pursuit i noticed that with the key in the "ON" position that the white wire gets REALLY hot! so hot infact that it started melting the wires.
So i figure i have a short somewhere. sure enough i found 1. the wire harness was against the engine block on a casting burr and rubbed right into the wire.
This WHITE wire starts at the igntion switch, runs to all the guages, then runs back to the motor somewhere. (and i think where ever this runs too has to do with the motor not running.) I did find a white wire running to the coil. however i can not see if it runs to something before it hits the coil. Perhaps an ignitor? Ive never heard of an ignitor untill tonight. However if my ignitor was bad i dont understand how when i crank the motor it fires up. but when i let off the key i stops.
I tested my coil and am getting 1.5 ohm from positive to negitive. 12k ohms from positive to top of coil. same for negitive. according to what ive found online that seems to be within specs i think.
Any ideas?
Personally im ruling out the ignition switch being bad since im getting proper voltage from every contact when the key is in the corrosponding position.
And Id really be interested in what the white wire would be running to since it starts at the igntion switch, goes to the guages, then inters the main harness wire loom and goes all the way to the motor. somewhere behind the motor i lose bearing on the wire and cannot see where it heads too.
