1973 mercury 650 won't start

amishboy

Seaman
Joined
Jun 5, 2010
Messages
64
Motor has been working great. Put her in water tonight and would not start. No clicks or nothing. Battery is at full juice. Pulled cover and there is a (probably black) wire with a round connector end on the right side that was not attached to anything, nor could I see an empty post it should have been attached to. It did spark when I accidently touched it to a positive wire...
I'm assuming it's a ground of some sort. Will the repair manual show a wiring diagram for this and will it also show me how to use the rope starter? I have never used one before. Fortunately we were still on the ramp.
 

amishboy

Seaman
Joined
Jun 5, 2010
Messages
64
Re: 1973 mercury 650 won't start

I purchased an owners manual for the engine and am looking at the wiring diagram. I think the loose wire is a ground wire from the alternator stator. It is off of a flywheel component above the distributer and only has 2 yellow wires going out.

According to my diagram, there is no ground wire listed. I cannot find any open post without a nut that this might have been attached to.
 
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