Force 35 won't shut down

[Pete B]

First, thanks to Mason for your feedback from your neighbor up in Watkinsville. If you ever see a white 16' flat bottom dory with blue trim tooling down Lake Oconee, that's me.<br /> I wanted to repost my question of a few days ago in hopes of getting yet more feedback on an 86 Force 35 I am trying to get running. I bought it two years ago, and when I took it to get it looked at recently in anticipation of firing it up, found out it had low compression in the lower cylinder - about 80-100 psi. Got lots of good feedback re. decarbing it, so thats what I decided to do. It came without a wiring harness, so, with the help of wiring diagrams from both the service manual and the ignition switch I bought, I jury rigged the wiring, just so I could get it running. Night before last I hooked up the gas tank, but couldn't get it to turn over. Sprayed a bit of starter fluid into the carb and she fired right up. But when I went to switch it off, it wouldn't shut down. Pulled the kill switch lanyard off, and it kept going. Finally disconnected the positive terminal, and that did it. So, two questions. First, any suggestions on how to fix this? I should note that the "I" terminal on the ignition switch isn't hooked up to anything, since it showed it that way on the wiring diagram. I'm thinking this could be the problem. My second question is a more immediate concern. Am I running a risk of hot wires, a short, or an electrical fire if I run it this way? All I want to do at this point is run it long enough to fire it up twice as part of the decarb treatment. Running it in a trash can full of water, and water spits out the back, so its not engine overheating that I am immediately worried about (will of course replace the impeller if and when I can get the compression up). I have no plans to take it out onto the water with it failing to shut down. I just don't really want to do this if it presents a danger.<br /> Thanks to Backlash, Fouled Plug, tesmel, dmessy, & seaman for your earlier advice on decarbing, pulling of the head, etc. This list is great.

 

[12Footer]

Re: Force 35 won't shut down

The blue wire from the cd is not connected to ground when the ignition switch is in the "ON" or "START" positions, But when the key is turned to "OFF", this blue wire gets grounded. There is voltage on three of the four wires at the ignition switch, and one ground.<br />So, yes, there is the danger of arcing,and fire. Make sure all connections are taped, or otherwise insulated from each other, and the engine itself.

 

[Pete B]

Re: Force 35 won't shut down

12Footer: Thanks for the feedback. I'll take your advice. Actually, when I fired it up again today, I found out that it wasn't disconnecting the positive terminal on the battery that shut it down last time I tried to stop it -- must just have finally stalled out from a low idle at roughly the same time I disconnected. This evening after starting it and then unhooking the positive terminal, it still kept running. Finally just put my hand over the carb intake, and that did it. Anyway, I'll work on the wiring before I fire it up again.