'81 Force 85 wiring info

[highspeedsentry]

This is driving me nuts lol. I just purchased this boat it ran fine but all lights, bilge, and accesories needed re-wired. In the process I unhooked all of the wires from the engine harness at the keyswitch. the tabs on the switch are as follows (I'm guessing here) S = yellow (start) C = green (choke) M = white (magneto) I = blue (ignition) that leaves a ground wire from harness unhooked and one tab marked M open on keyswitch. Every time I turn the key on the factory breaker pops. Where does the ground wire go? and why is there an open tab. Before I unhooked the wires on the switch and the engine ran correctly I do seem to recall the other tab marked M was not connected to anything and I could have swore the ground wire from the harness was hooked on the same tab as the blue ignition wire (to which tab they were connected to im not sure but I think it was the tab marked I). I want to try this but dont want to damage the magneto. ANY thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

[roscoe]

Re: '81 Force 85 wiring info

Welcome to iboats.<br /><br />M - white<br />M - blue<br />B - red<br />C - green<br />S - yellow<br /><br />I - red/blue or purple, goes to the overtmp warning buzzer

 

[highspeedsentry]

Re: '81 Force 85 wiring info

On my harness the orange wire is labeled heat and the purple is tach. Someone told me the I was for ignition, and I have a blue wire labeled ignition from the engine harness. The previous owner had it working correctly. I remember one of the M connections were not used on keyswitch and he had grounded the blue wire (I think) which is ignition or magneto. Would it make sense to have to ground any other wire on the keyswitch.

 

[roscoe]

Re: '81 Force 85 wiring info

The blue and white wires are used to ground out the ignition when the key is turned off, so that the engine will stop.<br />When the key is off, the two "m" terminals are connected.<br /><br /><br />Yes, some haaarnesses will use an orange wire for the over temp.<br /><br />mmbcs are the important ones to get it running.