Starter Ground wire on Gear Linkage??

[Bigfishhunter]

So, I was having a heck of a day fishing with some buds today... (2 big fish, a 29 and a 30!!! CPR'rd) When after a quick lunch I go to start my motor and it won't go.

I had power to all accessories, the smartcraft read 12.4 volt, trim and everything work great. I turn the key and I hear the beep and fuel pump pressurize, and then nothing. Not a click or anything.
So, we thinnk fuses, nope, we search along wire paths, scratch our heads, try the gear shifter, play with the kill switch, nothing.
Then deep down in the recesses of the engine I see it a broken ground wire from the starter. It looks as though it is connected to a little black box on the gear shifter linkage.

Anyway, how in the world am I going to go about getting at this thing, and then replacing/reconnecting anything that needs to be changed? It is deep in there man.

FYI, 50 hp 4 stroke EFI's actually pull start really easily, lucky I had the tools to remove the fly wheel cover...

[TomP.]

You may have to pull the lower side cowls off. Can be tedious to get to the bolts but not terrible.

[yarcraft91]

Originally Posted by Bigfishhunter

Then deep down in the recesses of the engine I see it a broken ground wire from the starter. It looks as though it is connected to a little black box on the gear shifter linkage.

Anyway, how in the world am I going to go about getting at this thing, and then replacing/reconnecting anything that needs to be changed? It is deep in there man.

Is that black box maybe the neutral safety switch? Is this a Merc 50 EFI 4-stroke? If so, I have the factory shop manual, could look up the procedure for getting at that connection.

[Bigfishhunter]

yes that is the motor and I would love to know the procedure. I guess I will probably have to order the part too.
I am going to swallow my pride and go and talk to my local merc dealer (actually only outboard guy in town...), but I am sure they will have no clue about what to do.

[Bigfishhunter]

O.k. So, I went to my local shop, (it sure helps speed up the process when you have already diagnosed the problem and know the solution, hopefully they can't screw this up...)
anyway, they are going to order the part, but it has to come from Wisconsin, which means it then goes to Vancouver, and then on to me. So, I am probably looking at about 1.5-2 weeks of down time.

The way I see it, I have two options.
#1 - Pull start it every time - Take off the cowl, remove fly wheel cover and pullstart it, and then run with engine cowl removed, or put fly wheel cover back on and put cowl back on.

#2 - By pass the switch somehow. I have no idea how to do this, I am electrically challenged, but maybe I could figure this out if someone is willing to explain it to me.

I ran home with the cowl removed and I had more speed and power with the increased air flow, guess I gotta drill some holes in my cowl...

[jrdonicht]

I had the neutral safety switch go out on my Yamaha tiller. Follow the wires going to the black box there may be a female -male end plug on the two wires going to the switch. When running a steering wheel type boat the nuetral safety switch is in the front controls those two wires go up with the rest of the wiring up by the controls via the splice. The plug in type splice is there for easy wiring for the remote or under cowl switch. If you diconnect the two plugs [male and female end plug that are going to the switch [under the cowling] and plug them in directly together you bypass the nuetral safety switch. Remember now this motor will now start in gear but it will get you by till the part comes in This procedure saved me 30 miles in on Rainy Lake

[Bigfishhunter]

Got it going, easy fix, just by-passed the switch like jrdonicht said. I will have to be careful to make sure to put it in neutral before turning off as it will now start it gear.

[Hathead]

I used to have that exact motor and the same thing happened to me when it had just a few hours on it. As others have said, it's the nuetral safety switch...for some reason they weren't paying attention when they put it there and when you put it in reverse it mashes up against the engine itself and eventually severs the wires. But it's not that way on all of them, you just have to pull the cowl and look at it moving the gear shift. If it doesn't push against anything you are fine, if it does you'll have problems. I'm trying to picture the setup but once on dry land and some wire strippers/butt connectors I was able to just bypass the switch. Again, just make sure you are in nuetral cause it will start in gear.

Very sloppy workmanship!

Hathead