PLEASE HELP! I just finished my 86 Ranger320v Installed a 78 Merc 1400 ,I NEED HELP!

[Ranger320vNOOB]

Hello, This is my first time on a iboats forum, So please be nice if at all possible, And this is my first High powered, and first fiberglass boat! Ok my 1986 15.6' Ranger bass boat had a bad johnson 110hp on it when i bought it ($800) Boat in great condition , only issue is the motor, Well i bought a 1982 skeeter bass boat also in decent condition buit had a terrible transom, BUT it had a great 78 Merc 1400 on the back , bought boat, motor, and trailer for $400 even. I pulled the motor off and installed on my ranger, had to drill new holes, but i silconed the old holes and the motor fits great otherwise, then i sold the skeeter for $200. Ok so I know see that i prob should have kept the tach from the old skeeter to use in my boat since it had OMC guages right?? I kept two wires that looked like they went to the tach on the skeeter still attached to the motor iintact , but i dont know what i am supposed to do with them now, any suggestions? can i use the OMC guages? 2nd is I took my ranger out with the 140 on the back, and it did great, besides when i went in reverse and the motor lifted itself up, (dont think i had enough tilt/trim fluid in pump) also when i get to full speed it runs good for a good while but when i go to WOT it dies few moments later, then will start right back up and run fine at slightly slower speeds, also the fual sending unit in the ranger only has one wire coming from it, and im not getting a fual reading on the guage, the speedo only ha s a tube coming from it, is all that right? Also please whats the correct way to transport motor on trailor, do i put that motor lock thing down and then the transom saver or just hyd lift it up a little ways and then the transom saver, please help, i have alot more Q for you guys, hopefully asking all this at once is not a crime in your forum , thanks alot guys!

 

[Texasmark]

Re: PLEASE HELP! I just finished my 86 Ranger320v Installed a 78 Merc 1400 ,I NEED H

Lots of questions; not qualified to correctly answer them all.

1978 is quite a ways back there. Lots changed. I was running OMC back then.

I had a newer "tower of power" on a Ranger also and I could run it out of gas also at sustained WOT and just like you, cut it back and it would recover. Who knows the last time the fuel pump diaphragm was changed....who knows the condition of fuel lines....cracked and leaking air instead of sucking fuel....who knows the location of your fuel tank and how many twists and turns, bends and all it makes.......things for you to check out.

The tilt/trim may be low on fluid, or it might be in the bypass mode....may have a screw on it that allows the fluid to bleed down but when put in the correct position, or maybe tightened things work normal. Back then, if you had T&T you had cylinders on either side of the engine mounting bracket and a central pump/reservoir. Usually full mark was defined as pulling the plastic plug (about the size of a nickel and hex wrench fit) on the side of the unit. Full was even with the bottom of the plug....i.e. fill till fluid just starts to run out and I think you had to have the engine all the way up. Oil type was automotive engine oil or tranny fluid if red, and later Quicksilver marketed their own fluid....so look and see what's in the sump currently.

Everybody has their own definition as to how to trailer and that depends upon the rig....the boat and the trailer. You will have to figure out what amounts to a minimum amount of the engine bouncing around and do that. The transom saver is a great idea, if you need it, but your T&T has to work for it to perform as designed. Two things you are after which are keeping the skeg off the ground and reducing the amount of stress on the transom.

One tube from the water pickup to the speedo is all that is required unless you want lights on it and that takes the bulb, and power to run it.

Can't advise on OMC gauges....probably not....a vendor identity thing.

On Mercs of that approximate hp as far back as my '97 manual goes, Grey was the tach information wire and was in the wiring harness on a "tach" connector with the necessary red or purple (purple is switched red...12v when the ignition sw is on) and black for gnd.

Hopefully this will get you started.

Mark

 

[Ranger320vNOOB]

Re: PLEASE HELP! I just finished my 86 Ranger320v Installed a 78 Merc 1400 ,I NEED H

On Mercs of that approximate hp as far back as my '97 manual goes, Grey was the tach information wire and was in the wiring harness on a "tach" connector with the necessary red or purple (purple is switched red...12v when the ignition sw is on) and black for gnd.

Hopefully this will get you started.

Mark[/QUOTE]

The wires coming from the motor are Orange and its only 1 wire instead of 3 like you mentioned, I looked inside cover and the lone orange wire is hooked up to a small metal plastic squarish block with lots of other wires hooked to it, what is that thing and why is only one wire coming from it, is this the kill switch hook up? or the tach read? The gas tank is just a big square under the back compartment, no bends and turns, looks like the fual line just runs straight into it, and there is a metal lid looking thing i believe is the gas gauge send unit, it has one blue wire coming from
it, but the gas gauge was not working when i test ran the boat!I followed tube back to back of the boat from the speedo and it runs into this plastic probe looking thing, it was flipped towards back of the boat, i flipped it forward thinking it would have to face the way of the water flow to read speed correct? I got the titl/trim under control now, thanks! Also how do i know if the motor is running lean enough or too lean or whatever, I just don't want to hurt this motor, Also does this motor have a way to charge my batteries while running? i currently have no batteries hooked up to anything besides the power wires, and i wanted to know if this thing had a alternator that charged batteries while running? I sold the Johnson that was originally on the ranger today so now i have a whopping $500 in this great little boat all together, so i have some room to get professional work done if you all think its necessary, I can be taught this stuff but not allot of useful info comes from anywhere besides the pros on this site!


Also, This motor was very very hard to start, it wouldnt start forever then when i kinda heard it running really lightly i would shove controls into forard and give it gas and would run fine, but didnt seem like it had enough gas to run, it has a lock on it to prevent it from running when not in nuetral my old 9.9 would let me start it while giving it some gas and it would fire right up, this one wont and takes forever, once i hear it almost goes i shove it in fast and it will run great but wont idle at all, sometimes it tries but idle goes too low and dies, I try starting it while holding in choke button, but only other button i see is tilt trim and there is another at the picot point on the control but not sure what that button is for, i heard some had a warmup lever which i dont see on mine and others had a throttle only button where my button is located so it might be that, but what does it do, will it help start it:?

Thanks for the response bud

 

[Texasmark]

Re: PLEASE HELP! I just finished my 86 Ranger320v Installed a 78 Merc 1400 ,I NEED H

Ok, glad you are moving forward. We'll walk through this part.

"The wires coming from the motor are Orange and its only 1 wire instead of 3 like you mentioned".

As I said, in time things change. Just looked in the manual and there are NO orange wires in
the wiring harness. If it is appropriate, i.e. you have a wire coming out of a rubber/plastic over covering of numerous wires, strip the covering back a couple of inches and see if you detect a different color on this "Orange" wire. If so, tell me what color it is. On "3 as I mentioned", to run the tach, you need power and gnd from whatever source you can get it....preferable from the switched 12v that is only there when your engine run switch is on.

"small metal plastic squarish block with lots of other wires hooked to it". What colors are the other wires?

"there is a metal lid looking thing i believe is the gas gauge send unit, it has one blue wire coming from
it, but the gas gauge was not working when i test ran the boat!" That "thing" on top of your gas tank is your float, which tells your fuel gauge how much fuel is in the tank, and the wire from it to the fuel gauge....blue wire....this has nothing to do with the Merc wiring harness per se. This is a boat wiring thing so you will not find this wire in your Merc control wiring. Gauge usually dies when the sending unit dies....it dies from the float bouncing up and down over time and it just wears out the connectors inside the tank. Solution is a new float/resistor sending unit. Problem is you need to be careful where you buy one as you have to get one matched to your fuel gauge, so that it reads correctly, and then you need to calibrate the float so that it will accurately read F-E. Not an easy task....needs someone who understands the process.

"I followed tube back to back of the boat from the speedo and it runs into this plastic probe looking thing, it was flipped towards back of the boat, i flipped it forward thinking it would have to face the way of the water flow to read speed correct?" Yes! It is made to flip up in the event it strikes an obstruction.....you cannot read speed unless it is in the down position and remains there with a little hand pressure....like water pushing on it would produce.

"how do i know if the motor is running lean enough or too lean or whatever". Use fresh 87 Octane gas from a reliable source and use a TCWIII rated (logo on the bottle) 2 cycle outboard engine oil at the ratio of 50:1.....1 pint to 6 gal of gas WW stocks both Merc/Quicksilver and Pennzoil in the sporting goods dept. Additionally, I would sincerely recommend adding Sea Foam fuel additive (White and red pint can) to your gas at the rate of 1 oz. per gallon of gas (their recommendation, but I usually use twice that. I learned about it on this site 5 years ago; have been using it ever since and will swear by it....never had a fuel problem on an engine 10 years old and never reworked the carbs....engine runs like a top...it is also a fuel preservative and helps your engine tolerate today's fuels)....in addition to your gas/oil mix just mentioned.....WW stocks that too...about $8 per pint, but worth every penny....and I am retired and not affiliated with any of the above.

"I currently have no batteries hooked up to anything besides the power wires, and i wanted to know if this thing had a alternator that charged batteries while running?" This one is a little tougher, but doable. First of all it should do what you said and battery charging circuits are pretty bullet proof if some moron didn't do something stupid like reverse battery leads....+ on the battery or charger hooked to - on the battery/charger kind of thing. If you have a DMM voltmeter or what have you, battery voltage usually runs around 12-12.8 volts as long as you haven't had a charger on it for 24 hrs....if so, it will read higher and that is not what you want. Battery chargers, including your engine's alternator will put out about 14V and depending upon the batteries charge condition it could read that high while charging.

If you have a meter you can put it across your battery with the engine off. Measure the voltage. Turn the engine on, idle is OK, and read the voltage again. If it is a volt or more higher, your alternator is working.

Not knocking the marine service industry, as there are plenty of those folks supporting this site but, if a man is of limited means, then we have to reconsider.

If I scrambled this or something is not clear, come back.

HTH,

Mark

 

[Ranger320vNOOB]

Re: PLEASE HELP! I just finished my 86 Ranger320v Installed a 78 Merc 1400 ,I NEED H

I appreciate all your help, do you know of a way i can upload pics on here so you can see the block with more wires a and be easier to explain my other issues with pics as well, again thanks for helping such a helpless noob

where should alternator be in the motor, i did not see anything, and like i said when i installed this motor i just ran the controls and the trim tilt, no other wires/ or anything else is hooked to the boat itself besides the main battery cables coming from the main wire harness from the motor, not sure if thats where the charge would come through, but i didnt know if these motors even came with a alternator

and when i said how do i know if running lean or not lean enough, i thought there was a setting on the carbs that adjusted this, and when i test ran my motor no smoke was present, when i removed old motor (the blown johson 110) i empties all the gas from the boat with the fual pump squeeze thing, not sure if it got all the gas out and any gas that was left in it was not pre mixed because it had oil injection before i put this merc on , but when i added gas i added more oil than i should have just in case there was more gas in the tank i didnt know about, but like i said it didnt smoke at all when i test ran

ok, back to guages, i just looked on ebay and saw a little after market thing you wrapp around the spark plug wire to read the revo`s, its a digital tach, i though was pretty cool, could i use this or do you know of something like this i can use to make it easier than trying to figure all this out on my own, also you said i need a new float, do i buy a whole kit and since the guage was out of a 86 ranger with omc motor do i need one that is omc approved? thanks again for all your help you are being a life save and because of you i will be on the water getting my bass sooner rather than later

 

[Texasmark]

Re: PLEASE HELP! I just finished my 86 Ranger320v Installed a 78 Merc 1400 ,I NEED H

Don S. did an article on uploading pics to this site.....look around it's here. I followed his instructions and it is easy.

Alternator is under the flywheel. A couple of wires of the same color come out and go to the rectifier. Probably on that engine there is no regulator so output voltage could be all over the place, but would be above 13 volts.

Oil mix is 1 pt to 6 gallons. You should see a little smoking with that. If you put the oil in the gas you know it's getting lubed. If the engine runs, it's getting gas. It could run on twice that much oil but it would definitely smoke and plugs would need attention more often.

The after market thing may work just fine for rpm's. Need to see if it is set up for 4 cycle or 2 cycle. 4 cycle fires (used to fire) plugs on alternate revs of the crank and if set up for that your rpm's would read half what they really are. You need one that reads 2 cycle, or expects the plug wire it's wrapped around to get whacked once per rev.

Your last paragraph is confusing. Do it over as I don't understand it.

Mark

 

[Ranger320vNOOB]

Re: PLEASE HELP! I just finished my 86 Ranger320v Installed a 78 Merc 1400 ,I NEED H

Cool! thanks, I meant I need to know what sending unit to buy to tell the OMC gas guage it has gas or not, or is the gas guage the same whether OMC or mercury? What do i need to look at when buying a new sending unit for the gas gauge? Also just to be safe i was wondering, My guage panel does not have a water pressure guage or a water temp or motor temp guage is this possible to install for this motor? I want to know how hot my motor gets and i would love to know if i lose water presser in case the impellar goes bad or something, you know how the new ones have alarms that go off if you stop pee`ing water , and yes the tach is approved for 2cycle or 4cycle! I thought it was great! Also remember me telling you about the lone orange wire that looked like someone installed it themself, the one i thought was to the tach? well i looked in my manual and at the motor and it looks like it goes into some kind of rectifier or something like that, there is a big black box above it against the front wall with bunch wires hooked onto, and then this one is a little below that big one and its only size of say a matchbook at the biggest, is this the thing that reads tach readings? so then all i should have to do is find 12v power to go to the guage, then hook orange wire to guage then ground guage? thanks again buddy, is there a way i can give you +rep or something for helping me so much!

Also real quick , those wires you speak of coming from the flywheel thats supposed to be the alternator wires, it looks like those are there but i havent ran any of those to my batteries, but will it still charge my batteries since i have them hooked up through the main wire harness coming from motor? does the charge come through the main wire harness that plugs into the outside of the side of the motor? or do i need to trace down the wires from the alternator and run new wires from the alternator straight to my batteries?

 

[Faztbullet]

Re: PLEASE HELP! I just finished my 86 Ranger320v Installed a 78 Merc 1400 ,I NEED H

Your sending unit needs 2 wires to work, usually a pink for the sender(insulated terminal in center) and a ground hooked to the base under a mounting screw or a raised spade connector. The sender dont care if its a OMC or Merc guage....

 

[Texasmark]

Re: PLEASE HELP! I just finished my 86 Ranger320v Installed a 78 Merc 1400 ,I NEED H

My guage panel does not have a water pressure guage or a water temp or motor temp guage is this possible to install for this motor? I want to know how hot my motor gets and i would love to know if i lose water presser in case the impellar goes bad or something, you know how the new ones have alarms that go off if you stop pee`ing water , and yes the tach is approved for 2cycle or 4cycle! I thought it was great! Also remember me telling you about the lone orange wire that looked like someone installed it themself, the one i thought was to the tach? well i looked in my manual and at the motor and it looks like it goes into some kind of rectifier or something like that, there is a big black box above it against the front wall with bunch wires hooked onto, and then this one is a little below that big one and its only size of say a matchbook at the biggest, is this the thing that reads tach readings? so then all i should have to do is find 12v power to go to the guage, then hook orange wire to guage then ground guage? thanks again buddy, is there a way i can give you +rep or something for helping me so much!

Also real quick , those wires you speak of coming from the flywheel thats supposed to be the alternator wires, it looks like those are there but i havent ran any of those to my batteries, but will it still charge my batteries since i have them hooked up through the main wire harness coming from motor? does the charge come through the main wire harness that plugs into the outside of the side of the motor? or do i need to trace down the wires from the alternator and run new wires from the alternator straight to my batteries?

Faztbullet answered the fuel sending question.

Yes you can have temp info on a dash gauge
Yes you can have water pressure info on a dash gauge

Both require an installation procedure and the parts...they are "after market" sort of thing....not standard OEM.

Unless someone boogered up your wiring, you shouldn't have to worry about the battery charging wiring. It is factory installed in your engine and all the doins are in the existing main engine wiring harness.

HTH,

Mark

 

[Chris1956]

Re: PLEASE HELP! I just finished my 86 Ranger320v Installed a 78 Merc 1400 ,I NEED H

Skip the temp gauge. That motor does not have a thermostat, so you will never see any reading but cold, until you overheat. A water pressure gauge is much better. You can monitor the water pressure while you drive.

The charging current is pretty small, but comes down the yellow stator wires to the rectifier and then to the battery.

 

[Ranger320vNOOB]

Re: PLEASE HELP! I just finished my 86 Ranger320v Installed a 78 Merc 1400 ,I NEED H

How do i hook up a water pressure gauge ? where is the hook up on the block? thanks to all who have helped me, I am very close to being on the water again! I just need to figure out how to wire up my trolling motor, it has a ranger plug in front but i don't have the plug that hooks to troll motor wires then into the ranger power plug in front of bow, can i get a after market plug and receptor to install instead or do i have to buy ranger? or can i just cut out that plug in and directly wire troll motor to wires behind the receptacle ,

ALSO i think this is last thing, probably the most important and should have asked first, but the merc motor, when i run it, the water it pee`s out is VERY hot, my 9.9 i had did not get hot at all maybe luke warm , this one starts at cool for a minute or so then gets very hot, i dont see it boiling but its too hot to keep hand in it for long, is this too hot? i have a laser temp guage , can i test the temp with that and how hot should it be, i thought the thermostat was messed up but you told me has no thermostat so i know am confused, is this ok? also i am not sure about this but if im not mistaken i think it starts cool, gets real hot, then gets warm then hot, then warm then hot, is this right? i need to do another test run to make sure

One last thing, again thanks for everyones help , been a great learning experience! does anyone know how to make a simple kill switch?

 

[Chris1956]

Re: PLEASE HELP! I just finished my 86 Ranger320v Installed a 78 Merc 1400 ,I NEED H

To install the water pressure gauge pressure line on those inline sixes, look for a threaded pipe plug on the cylinder head waterjacket cover. install the pressure line there if you have one. If you do not see one, remove the elbow for the telltale and install a brass tee fitting. Now put the pressure line on one side and the telltale on the other side of the tee.

That motor should run dead cold at idle. Since it runs hot, you must rebuild the water pump, before you use the motor, or it will seize or worse.

The kill switch needs to interrupt the voltage on the white wire. You woud need to splice it into the merControl harness. Why do you want one?

 

[Ranger320vNOOB]

Re: PLEASE HELP! I just finished my 86 Ranger320v Installed a 78 Merc 1400 ,I NEED H

I want a kill switch because alot of bass tournaments around here require them! Since this is a ranger that originally had a johnson, and the Johnson controls itself had the kill switch in it, I just wanted a way to make one in case i am thrown overboard, this boat max HP rating is a 115hp its only 15.6" long and this merc is a 140hp as you already know! Also I appreciate your words but i have seen alot of other forums and from other people that as long as its is pee`ing good its fine, and i also heard that these motors pee hot water, on alot of forums people say, oh don't worry, its supposed to be 140 degrees or so, is this not the case, you look to be the professional, not them!? What do you suggest?

Also if you think i need a rebuild can you send me a link to a proper kit?
any way i could get a link of the water pressure guage as well? i looked and have no clue what i would need to splice into tell tale

 

[Chris1956]

Re: PLEASE HELP! I just finished my 86 Ranger320v Installed a 78 Merc 1400 ,I NEED H

OK, you will need a kill switch that opens when tripped. Splice it into the white wire from the controls.

If the motor telltale is hot at idle, the cooling is not working right. Those motors will run dead cold at idle. Anyone who says otherwise is mistaken. That motor has no thermostat, which is why it always runs cool. If the motor does not have a pipe plug, follow my previous post to add the water pressure gauge sensor.

Any waterpump repair kit is fine. Make sure you replace the impeller, wearplate and the two gaskets that sandwich the wearplate. Inspect the water pump cover. if the stainless liner is scratched, replace it as well.

 

[Faztbullet]

Re: PLEASE HELP! I just finished my 86 Ranger320v Installed a 78 Merc 1400 ,I NEED H

need a kill switch that opens when tripped.

The factory "kill switch" that could be ordered for that motor attached to to brown wire and ground on trigger side of switchbox. It was open and went to ground when tripped, I myself do not splice into the white wire(12v ign) as the aftermarket kill switch are not to water tight and the switchbox is too voltage sensitive..

 

[Ranger320vNOOB]

Re: PLEASE HELP! I just finished my 86 Ranger320v Installed a 78 Merc 1400 ,I NEED H

thanks guys , So the hot idle is bad, so the only thing that can cause this is the water pump? Should i check or clean anything while i have lower unit off? What else could cause this issue? Should i do anything else? It pee`s fine while running!?

 

[ratkiller]

Re: PLEASE HELP! I just finished my 86 Ranger320v Installed a 78 Merc 1400 ,I NEED H

I owned a Ranger 320V in 86. The max HP rating is 115 hp. 140hp is way over powered.
Ratkikller

 

[194269]

Re: PLEASE HELP! I just finished my 86 Ranger320v Installed a 78 Merc 1400 ,I NEED H

The engine ratings in '86 when yor Ranger was built where prop shaft ratings. His 140 was built in '78, which where c/shaft ratings, when Mercury went to prop/shaft ratings the 140 became the 115. There for I do not see a problem.