I have a 1999 225 Ficht that has been trouble free since day one. Starts first time, every time. I've never had to crank it to get it going. Runs great and is stingy on gas. I just had annual maintenance and with about 4 hours on it, it died while running at a fast idle. No warning, no alarms, just an abrupt shut down. It almost re-started but wouldn't. <br /><br />After the tow home, the troubleshooting eliminated fuel problems. It had new plugs four hours ago, but they had turned black and seemed to have little to no spark. New plugs (indexed properly) did nothing. It kicks over, and tries to start, but will not run. A check of the ignition switch showed an interesting symptom. It appeared that the kill switch lanyard had no effect. If the lanyard is attached the problem is identical to having the lanyard pulled. That seems to indicate a bad kill switch. (which would explain the abrupt shut-down) I was told by a shop guy yesterday that all I had to do is pull the wire on the kill switch terminal at the switch and it should start. Pulled the black/yellow stripe wire with no change in the symptoms.<br /><br />Is this the way to disable the kill switch? <br /><br />Any other suggestions? <br /><br />THANKS!