Mercontrol electric choke is being intermittent.

[sutor623]

Going on vacation this coming weekend and bringin the old boat. Just figured I'd check and make sure all was well. Went to fire her up and the choke button did nothing. It would work some of the time and not others. I checked for 12v at the choke solenoid and NADA. Wiggled the wires around when the wife was pushing the button and nothing. Should I go into the control box and check the switch? I know that the wiring in there did not look the greatest when I greased the control box this past winter. I can use the manual choke on vacation, but it is a '67 Merc 650 and I have to take all of the casing off to get to it. Just doesn't seem too relaxing, (or impressive to your friends.) Anyone dealt with this before?

 

[hoosiercaver1]

Re: Mercontrol electric choke is being intermittent.

My motor did not have a choke solenoid when I bought it so I mounted an automotive choke cable to the outside of the bottom cowling so I didn't have to pull the whole cover off every time. I can post pics sometime if u r interested. It only took about 30 mins. To install. If ur solenoid is bad I think they r pretty pricey.

 

[sutor623]

Re: Mercontrol electric choke is being intermittent.

My motor did not have a choke solenoid when I bought it so I mounted an automotive choke cable to the outside of the bottom cowling so I didn't have to pull the whole cover off every time. I can post pics sometime if u r interested. It only took about 30 mins. To install. If ur solenoid is bad I think they r pretty pricey.

I can get a solenoid cheap, but it works fine when I send 12v straight to it. So it is either the main switch or the wiring. I was thinking about wiring up a temporary choke power supply for the time being. I dont really have time to pull the control box right now, plus those old things are finicky, with my luck Id go to turn the key after I put it back together and it wont start. Id love to see some pics how you wired yours up. Thanks man!

 

[Moody Blue]

Re: Mercontrol electric choke is being intermittent.

My 1971 behaved the same when I bought it a few years ago and it was just dirty contacts within the choke button itself. When you press the button down, try pushing it at an angle (ie push it slightly forward/backwards as well as down) to try and "wipe" the contacts.

Possible bad connection in the main harness connection at the motor?

 

[mr 88]

Re: Mercontrol electric choke is being intermittent.

I would check/ clean and maybe open the slotted ends at the junction where it connects on the motor.You can take a test light,ground it good and see if your getting power through the control cable when you have it dis-connected.If not then start backtracking,just put a new ign switch in mine, NAPA 20 $ ,problem turned out to be just what I described above.

 

[sutor623]

Re: Mercontrol electric choke is being intermittent.

Cool, thanks guys. I checked for 12v power to the solenoid lead and did not have it when the button was being pushed. The wires looked pretty shabby in the control box when I checked them so I guess I will open her up and see if there is anything I can clean or fix in there. I just remember it being a real pain in the *** getting that box back together with everything in its proper place.

 

[hoosiercaver1]

Re: Mercontrol electric choke is being intermittent.

I actually don't have a solenoid wired up, just a cable like the old time cars had to close the choke on mine. My choke on my old Johnson didn't work either but it had a manual choke on the outside of the engine cover that u didn't have to take the whole cover off to pull. So I did the same thing to my mercury. I'll take pics of it next time I go out and uncover it.

 

[sutor623]

Re: Mercontrol electric choke is being intermittent.

I actually don't have a solenoid wired up, just a cable like the old time cars had to close the choke on mine. My choke on my old Johnson didn't work either but it had a manual choke on the outside of the engine cover that u didn't have to take the whole cover off to pull. So I did the same thing to my mercury. I'll take pics of it next time I go out and uncover it.

Cool I gotcha, you are using an actual cable, not electricity. Thats a great idea actually, less stuff to go wrong.