8-pin cable plug harness

[jeffryb]

my boat engine recently stopped running and had to be towed because of a plug that is inside the engine cowl
this plug is a 8 pin male and plugs into the engines wiring harness 1993 or 1994 225 hp mariner 6 cyl out board engine
i am not sure that i need to replace the whole harness that i believe goes to the helm as the boat tech says that there is 1 pin that is loose in the plug could be the middle pin
is there a way i could buy just the plug and cut and splice the wires togethar or could sombody let me know where i could find this plug that fits my engine harnes

 

[Faztbullet]

You better do some more troubleshooting. Was it running and quit?

 

[jeffryb]

You better do some more troubleshooting. Was it running and quit?

mechanic came to the boat unpluged the harness said one of the pins were loose cleaned the female end and put some electric grease on connections pluged it back togethar engine started right back up and ran perfect before that only idling
he said it was the plug

 

[jeffryb]

mechanic came to the boat unpluged the harness said one of the pins were loose cleaned the female end and put some electric grease on connections pluged it back togethar engine started right back up and ran perfect before that only idling
he said it was the plug

yes it was running out on the water then quit and had to be towed

 

[Dukedog]

JAN.. that harness has nothing ta do with tha way a motor runs.. tha only thing it controls "as for its running" is it has a start circuit and a kill circuit.. it cannot change tha way, rpm and/or speed of tha motor.. it simply allows ta be started and/or shut down................ if it was runnin' and jus quit you can check tha kill (black/yellow) circuit in tha harness and everywhere else on tha motor... tha black/yellow is tha same as old-timme spark plug ground tab on a briggs n stratten motor

 

[Chris1956]

The middle pin looks to be the +12VDC power wire. That would send battery power to the helm. Without it the motor would not crank, but would continue to run.

If the boat side of the harness is good, you could replace the engine harness, pretty easily. Heck the boat harnesses are not all that expensive and should be avail aftermarket..

 

[jeffryb]

has anybody tried to buy another 8 pin harness and just cut and spliced the wires togethar and throw out the old one without replacing the whole harness wiring mess at the helm.

 

[fatlenny]

Sounds like you just want some one to say what you want to hear and ignore every one who dont just answer yes or no to your question. So to answer your question, "has anybody tried to buy another 8 pin harness and just cut and spliced the wires togethar and throw out the old one without replacing the whole harness wiring mess at the helm." No, no one has done that. The harness may not be the issue, or at least a loose pin is not. Mechanic is bad at his job. Or at least bad at explaining what the issue is. If you disconnected your wire harness, you should be able to jump the starter and it would run. a loose connection wont cause a no run issue. now it is possible that in the harness or in the plug that there is a short to ground that is stopping the engine from running. A loose pin may be a sign it is in the harness but I would do my own tests and suspect the ignition switch being bad first. Just my 2 cents and I hope I didnt waste my time responding if all you wanted is a "Yes, it can be done"

 

[Chris1956]

New controls and boat wiring harnesses are not all that expensive, say < $150. Since they are new the wiring to the round plug is molded and waterproof, better that what you can do with a new plug (if you can find one), solder and shrink tube.

You might be able to find just a new wiring harness, and just solder it to the ign switch and neutral safety switch and the other things in the control.

 

[racerone]

Find each side of the wire with the loose pin.----Then solder in a " jumper wire " to bypass the defective pin.----See what happens.----Save money.

 

[Dukedog]

lotsa options here..... but that harness is not your running problem.. if it starts its gonna run at ANY rpm, even without tha harness plugged in..

8 Pin Mercury Harness in Boat Parts for sale | eBay

www.ebay.com

 

[jeffryb]

thanks for all the feedback, i cut the and heat shrinked the 2-harness togethar (i found a old one and used a couple feet of it with the good 8-pin plug
so far running great again, i have another plug now in case this spice goes bad and i also have purchased a starter jumper if i get in a jam on the water