Mercury Throttle and Shift - Neutral Safety switch problems?

[Royalwapiti]

I think the neutral safety switch has gone out of my mercury throttle. Is there anyway to test and find out for sure?

Last Fall I drove 4 hours to the lake, got there and no start. battery was charged but wouldn't turnover. I made the best of it and fished all day with just trolling motor, then on a whim I tried turning the key, if fired right up, drove it a few hundred yards and shut it off. Fished some more and then tried it again, no turnover.

I got home, it turned over fine. This spring it turned over fine when in my driveway. took it to the lake and it started right up. This is a no-wake lake so i put it in forward and just barely accelerated. Shut it off. Then it wouldn't turnover again and hasn't since then. I fiddled with the shifter but no luck.

Would it be the neutral safety switch? Some other wire work loose? Maybe a relay to check?

Thanks. This is my first boat and is all foreign to me.

The photo is a pic of a similar shifter, maybe not exact.

 

[alldodge]

First, you need to tell us what your working on.

With the shifter in the pic I going under the impression this is an outboard. Find the starter relay and if it has one the slave relay (didn't mention what you have). Put a test light or meter on the small terminal which is not black. Turn the key to start and you should get 12V.

If you don't get 12V at the slave, and/or also at the starter solenoid then you need to take the shifter apart to check the key switch

 

[Bondo]

I fiddled with the shifter but no luck.

Ayuh,.... It's much more likely ya got corrosion in/ on the wirin', 'n ends, 'tween the battery, 'n the motor, than a bad neutral switch,.....

Take the connections apart, clean to shiny metal clean, reassemble, 'n try it,....

 

[Royalwapiti]

It's a 1991 Alumacraft Trophy 170 with a Force 70HP motor, the throttle/shifter is dated 2003.

There is no voltage getting to the yellow wire on the solenoid when the key is turned. I will take the throttle/shifter apart today and clean connections and look at the switch.

Thanks

 

[Royalwapiti]

I took it apart today and looked around, didn't see corrosion, was by myself so i couldn't test the switch by turning the key and checking the voltage at the solenoid. Will fiddle with it some more this week. Are there anymore relays or switches between the neutral switch and the solenoid?

 

[alldodge]

Should be nothing else except one netural switch, relay and starter. Here is the trouble shooting link
http://boatinfo.no/lib/mercury/manua...0-115.html#/50

Note: one of the yel/red wires on the relay is ground

 

[Bt Doctur]

dodge ,the 2 yellow w red are for the neutral safety ,not the solenoid solenoid is 1 yellow w/ red and a black

 

[alldodge]

woops, thanks for the catch

 

[Royalwapiti]

I tested the ignition switch, kill switch and neutral switch, power was getting thru all three. So I went back to solenoid where the manual you sent me told me to go. To be honest I was just fingering each connection and the connector on the starter cable moved, I turned it slightly to tighten and tried the key, the motor turned over but would not start. I tried starting some more and no go, I added gas to the tank (just in case it was empty) and pumped the bulb, which I have never done before to start it. I am thinking when I took the throttle/shifter apart I might have put the fast idle connector in the wrong hole on the round gear thingy. There were two slots. Gas was pouring out of the carb when I was turning it over, I was also using the push in choke, I could hear a clicking sound when I would turn the key to On and press the key in for "choke on". Then after trying for a few times, i would turn the key and nothing happens.

Does the 1991 Force 70hp use electric choke? What is the Clicking when choke is activated?

Did I create more problems by dismantling my throttle/shifter and possibly not getting it together correct? Can I damage the starter turning the stud too far?

Thanks

 

[Royalwapiti]

Here's a pic of the internals I found on the web. I think I put the fast idle pin in the right slot below the wi in the word switch., but will take cover off tomorrow and check. The clicking on the choke gives me the sense I may have it in the wrong slot. Two weeks ago this motor ran fine. So there is not too much wrong as least until I started messing with it!

 

[alldodge]

Gas was pouring out of the carb when I was turning it over,

What your doing now has nothing to do with previous issues.

Not an outboard guy but I do believe the click is the electric choke engaging

The crack and no crank is still a electrical issue. If the starter stud was loose this could very well be the issue with a bad connection.

 

[Royalwapiti]

So at 3:00am this morning I awoke thinking about my problem. It turns over, it should start but acts like it has no spark. I went over what I did when I reassembled the throttle switch and remembered one of the bolts was tough to get in the hole. I concluded that the bolt was pressing against a wire when it went in. I couldn't wait for sunlight to go out and try it.

Sure enough, I removed that bolt and the boat motor didn't turnover more than 3 times and fired right up. It was a Black/yellow wire from the kill switch. So to fix one minor starter stud issue I created another larger issue.

Thanks for the help guys.

 

[alldodge]

Thanks for the update, happy boating :thumb: