Evinrude electrical help

[glong3]

I have a 1992 Evinrude 70 HP. I'm having trouble with a wire that runs from the where the negative terminal on the side of the motor, under where the positive is. This wire runs from the negative terminal, under the engine and to 2 grounding point in the trim/tilt area. The wire keeps burnning up. When I got the motor, it was an exposed wire. After the first problem with it, I replaced the wire with a coated wire. It worked fine for about 3 trips out and now the wires melted. Does anyone have any idea why this wire would melt?

The wire melts when I go to start the boat. The starter doesn't get enough power to spin the starter properly. I disconnected the wire and the starter gets no power and the trim/tilt is dead. When I replaced the wire (with the coated wire), everything worked fine for about 3 trips.

 

[F_R]

Re: Evinrude electrical help

Hard to tell from the description, but it would seem that it is carrying the starter current that is supposed to be carried by the thick negative battery cable. Check the negative cable for breaks, bad or corroded connections, etc.

 

[glong3]

Re: Evinrude electrical help

That does sound like a possibility. I will have to check that tomorrow. Thanks for the reply.

 

[HighTrim]

Re: Evinrude electrical help

When there is resistance in a circuit, you can find it by touch (heat-which you obviously have), or voltage drop. This is easily done with a DVM, do you have access to one? We can help you with this if you need.

Pay attention to the connections like Frank mentioned, the engine ground is always a likely culprit. Dont just look at them, take them off, polish to a shine, then retighten. I do this every spring on my motors, especially the starter, solenoid, ground, battery, etc...