Ignition switch

[Travman7301]

Hi all I am new to all this so sorry if it’s a dumb question. I recently picked up a boat from a deceased family member and have been trying to get it going, it needed a new starter switch as it was missing one. I picked one up on Amazon but not sure if it will even work. I found the wire harness diagram but it doesn’t have the same wording as the switch diagram. The wire harness has
- switch box (white wire)
- Switch box ( brown wire)
- choke (grey wire)
- red wire ( goes to starter solenoid and rectifier)
- starter solenoid ( yellow wire)
- starter solenoid (black wire)

But the new switch only has

-12 V ( red wire)
- ground ( black)
- Starter ( yellow red stripe)
-choke (yellow black stripe)
- magneto ( black yellow stripe)
- Ignition (purple)

I am unsure which wire is supposed to go to which one and if I have to double up or not. Any one who can help would be muchly appreciated thanks.

 

[racerone]

Can you post what make / model motor is involved here ???

 

[Travman7301]

Can you post what make / model motor is involved here ???

I believe a 1974 mercury 650

 

[Chris1956]

Does it have a distributor? It doesn't reeally matter as Merc harnesses work for both distributor ign or ADi ignition, but useful to know for troubleshooting.

Wire colors on that old Merc should be:

White - ign power
red- battery +12VDC
Yellow-starter solenoid power- goes thru neutral safety switch
Black - ground (-12VDC)
Grey - Choke solenoid
Orange (or salmon) ign killer for non-distributor motors.

Assuming your new ign switch has short wires on it, connect purple to white; red to red; yellow/red to yellow; yellow/black to grey; Black to black; Black/yellow to orange or salmon;

The brown wire is for the tach signal from the switchbox. If you have a tachometer much newer than the motor, it likely needs a wire change to work. let me know.