black/red wiring harness

[fireman57]

Have a 1980 35hp Evinrude with the black cannon plug on the engine. However the old pontoon boat has a red plug from the ignition. Not really wanting to give CDI a couple hundred bucks for a replacement harness from ignition to engine on a boat that I am going to sell pretty cheap. Can I replace the black plug harness on the engine with a red plug harness? I have a couple in my shop that I could use. I know the wire colors are a little different but there are plenty of diagrams here that I could use to hook up the red harness. Just looking for any unseen problems.

 

[flyingscott]

Should be easy enough to put a red plug on it. A 1980 motor should have already had the red plug on it.

 

[fireman57]

I agree it should but it is black and it is an '80. Just wasn't sure if the plug ins on the harness that go to the coils and such were the same. It is pouring here for the next three days and I am not standing in a cold rain to work on it. Thought I might get a jump on it by asking here first.

 

[F_R]

Pretty sure my '84 is black, but I'd have to go out and look to verify that. I been wrong before.

 

[flyingscott]

The only thing that plug has to do with the ignition is shutting it down. The coil wires are not connected to the plug. Wires come out of the stator to the The power pak to the coils. The plug Allows a way for The key to ground It out . There are wires in the plug that your motor wont use, You have no overheat warning that wont get used.

 

[fireman57]

I was thinking they were black in the early 80's. From like 80 - 84 or so. I think they changed them to red on some models earlier than others. Could be wrong though. Have been before.

 

[F_R]

Haven't gone out to look yet, but I have two wiring diagrams. One very plainly says black connector and the other one very plainly says red connector.

 

[flyingscott]

Huh i have had several of those all mine had red plugs. Live And Learn

 

[F_R]

Well ok, couldn't stand it any longer and went out to look. It's red. 1984 Johnson 35hp, purchased new in the box in 1984.

 

[fireman57]

Looking at it the black/yellow kill wire comes out of the red plug into a connector so I need to make it stop raining and see if the connectors have the same prongs. I also need to pull up the wiring diagrams and make sure those wires come and go to the same place I guess. If I can get by with using the red from boat into the black on engine I would be happy if it just starts and kills it. I read somewhere that I need to put a jump wire on the kill circuit. Plenty to read here about it.

 

[Chinewalker]

There's no reason why you can't retrofit a red plug harness into a motor that came with the black one. They handle the same functions - Off/On ignition, Start solenoid, choke, and (sometimes) overheat. The charging system exits with the battery cables, so that isn't an issue. I think any red harness from a 2-cylinder OMC could be made to work.

 

[fireman57]

Just got done with it and the only difference is the kill circuit. Most engines would not shut off until you made a jump wire from one harness to the next. My problem was it would not start. I cut the black/yellow and she fired right up. Then just ran wires from those two ends to a push button switch on the dash to kill it. Harness can still be unplugged without having to undo a jump wire. I would like to have had the purple/white wire to hook up the primer solenoid though.