Puzzling Ground Wire on Mercruiser 5.0

[crepko]

I recently did a head and head gasket replacement on a 5.0 Mercruiser that I purchased this summer. I took lots of photos of the engine before tear down just in case I couldnt figure out were some wires attached and whatnot. At the end of reassembly I had a ground wire with an eyelet connector that had no logical place to attach. I looked at the pre tear down photos and I found in one of the pictures it was never attached to begin with. But my OCD has me wondering if this should be attached somewhere? But there is no screw in the area that fits through the islet. See pictures, it is coming out of the harness that has the water temp sender, gear oil sensor wires, fuel pump connector. It exits the harness right behind the 50 amp red circuit breaker button. You can see the wire just below the distributor. Any ideas on where this attaches or if it needs to be detached in certain configurations?

Boat: 2007 Chapparal
Engine 5.0 Mercruiser Carburated
Engine: OW613721
Transom: OW437012
Drive: OW841226

 

[Fun Times]

I recently did a head and head gasket replacement on a 5.0 Mercruiser that I purchased this summer. I took lots of photos of the engine before tear down just in case I couldnt figure out were some wires attached and whatnot. At the end of reassembly I had a ground wire with an eyelet connector that had no logical place to attach. I looked at the pre tear down photos and I found in one of the pictures it was never attached to begin with. But my OCD has me wondering if this should be attached somewhere? But there is no screw in the area that fits through the islet. See pictures, it is coming out of the harness that has the water temp sender, gear oil sensor wires, fuel pump connector. It exits the harness right behind the 50 amp red circuit breaker button. You can see the wire just below the distributor. Any ideas on where this attaches or if it needs to be detached in certain configurations?

Boat: 2007 Chapparal
Engine 5.0 Mercruiser Carburated
Engine: OW613721
Transom: OW437012
Drive: OW841226

Because you have an Alpha Stern Drive there's an factory Option called an "Mercathode" which the mercruiser mercathode purpose is for helping to protect against Galvanic Corrosion.

The mercathode came standard on the Bravo drives but most Alpha's didn't come with the mercathode....That Black Ground Wire would of been connected to the mercathode had you had one in place from new or properly installed by a selling dealer...You're okay to run with that ground wire disconnected.

Mercruiser Mercathode Systems for galvanic corrosion protection

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