Mercontrol cables

[matt167]

I think I have found a mercruiser specific mercontrol for not a lot of money. Provided it’s good… I ran across an issue now that I put power to the trim pump where 2 of the dash switches don’t work. I’ve found some switches that look similar and I can modify into the panel.. the wires were butchered to the current switches looking at it.. I’ll probably dummy the center switch being the trim senders don’t work and I don’t care

 

[matt167]

Is there a chance my upper shift and throttle are switched causing the fast idle lever to raise itself? My dad hooked up the cables while I operated the controls. But with the controls being sloppy. Idk if those could be swapped

 

[matt167]

My work daily car blew its left rear coil spring out the back over a bump yesterday. It’s been Carrying an outdrive and a few other things for a couple weeks…. Parts ran up to $200, so I opted to just buy a NOS face cam for the old Mercontrol and see what it’ll do. From what I gather; the face cam is what wears. Cost me $40

 

[matt167]

What was the purpose of the 3rd button on the old trim control panels? I’ve only got “IN” working. The other 2 buttons are dead. I’ve got new momentary switches coming to give it a new look and life. Trying to figure out how to wire it.. I’m not bothering with trim switches in the outdrive, so I want to bypass the limiters, like many others have. I get what the trailer button does on the modern controllers by bypassing the limit switches with that button.

 

[Scott06]

What was the purpose of the 3rd button on the old trim control panels? I’ve only got “IN” working. The other 2 buttons are dead. I’ve got new momentary switches coming to give it a new look and life. Trying to figure out how to wire it.. I’m not bothering with trim switches in the outdrive, so I want to bypass the limiters, like many others have. I get what the trailer button does on the modern controllers by bypassing the limit switches with that button.

I thought the middle and upper needed to be pushed to get to trailer , one I think was just trim. Going off memory from neighbors old start craft

 

[matt167]

I thought the middle and upper needed to be pushed to get to trailer , one I think was just trim. Going off memory from neighbors old start craft

I do kinda remember needing to push 2 buttons on my dad’s old Chief. I tried pushing the top 2 buttons remembering that but nothing happened. The wiring to the panel has been butchered and repaired like most have. Being it’s over 50 years old now

 

[Scott06]

I do kinda remember needing to push 2 buttons on my dad’s old Chief. I tried pushing the top 2 buttons remembering that but nothing happened. The wiring to the panel has been butchered and repaired like most have. Being it’s over 50 years old now

You would need to ohm test the switches and then jumper your trim limit Switch since you don’t have one. Entirely possible that the wiring has corrosion inside the wires.
Had this on my brothers boat a couple years back, center console , harnes in water filled conduit under floor up to helm had enough corrosion that no longer worked. winterized it in the fall worked fine, next spring wouldnt start , had like 9 ohms resistance helm to motor.

winder if yiu can take the harnes out of the donor boat, might be leg up if existing harness is a mess

 

[matt167]

Yeah the trim harness I do have from the parts boat. It should be long enough

 

[matt167]

Does the cable end from the MC1 upper shift cable need replaced with an Alpha variant? It seems like it’s too long. The leg isn’t on yet so I know it can’t be adjusted yet

The cable ends to the parts boat are pinned

 

[Bondo]

Does the cable end from the MC1 upper shift cable need replaced with an Alpha variant? It seems like it’s too long. The leg isn’t on yet so I know it can’t be adjusted yet

The cable ends to the parts boat are pinned

Ayuh,.... Should be the same,....

 

[matt167]

I thought so. I’ll have to put the outdrive on and see what is up. I was going to swap motors to the better one I just bought but I think I’m going to see what this one will do

 

[matt167]

How do I get the lower shift cable close enough to put the outdrive on. Just try and make it 6”? And put it in fwd gear? My dad adjusted the cables with it off and they weren’t quite right and I know now it’s cause the drive was off. We’re not marine mechanics, just able to figure stuff out

 

[matt167]

Biggest problem I had was my dad had the shift and throttle cables backwards… but now I notice it is not giving throttle in forward. I haven’t put in the face cam yet. Outdrive is on, and I got the cables adjusted

 

[matt167]

UPDATE: opened the Mercontrol. Looks pretty worn out, and missing parts like the neutral detent pin. I put the Face cam in it to see if it might work but alas same problem. The throttle cam looks worn out as well.. so going to bin this one

I ordered an outboard controller that will accept gen 1 cables. I hope it works like I think it will

 

[matt167]

I got the controller and hooked it up. Going to need longer cables. Hooks up different than the original mercontrol, and the upper shift cable was already borderline too short for the alpha setup ( transom shift vs valve cover shift )

Does the outboard controllers use a neutral switch? I bought a gutted control listed for a 4-5hp outboard as I don’t need any wiring that would be wrong for a stern drive. I see some connections in there but I thought outboards had NSS on the motor in general. I bought one of the aftermarket Mercury controls. Way over budget on this boat and something nicer can come later. It seems to be fine. I bought one without trim specifically so it was 1:1 replacing what was there. I got the old trim panel working