Mercury classic 50 burned ground straps

Ltponline

Cadet
Joined
Apr 3, 2016
Messages
10
Bought a used pontoon with mercury classic 50 on it. Boat sat since last summer. Put muffs on it turned key started on 2nd try. Ran great throttle response was great. Next day took it to water. Wouldn't gof over half throttle.decided to rebuild carbs and clean. After bolting things back up I noticed I put the small ground wire that was supposed to bolt to starter ground on the positive starter post. Needless to say almost had a fire and wire burned into. I didn't replace wire as it just burned that wire which I'm figuring is a ground feed wire to rectifier and starter solenoid. Anyway when I tried to start it again today I noticed more smoke. Upon inspection I noticed there are 2 naked ground straps on the back of the motor. One is burnt into and the other is crusty feeling. Could me not rewiring the ground cause the two ground straps to burn like that? The motor would just click and not even attempt to start. Tried starting 4 or 5 times then the clicking quit.
 

Bondo

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Apr 17, 2002
Messages
71,373
Ayuh,.... Welcome Aboard,..... Anything that was originally Grounded, still needs to be Grounded,.....

Removin' ground straps is never a good idea,....

Electricity needs a full circle circuit, break the circuit, 'n the electricity flows elsewhere, causin' the overloads yer seein',.....
 

Ltponline

Cadet
Joined
Apr 3, 2016
Messages
10
found out why it burnt the ground. the starter bolt was rubbing on the side cover that goes around the motor. it had a hot spot on it. i put a piece of rubber over it and seemed to do the trick. fixed all the ground wire issues ,now it turns over. just gotta see if she will run full throttle now lol.
 
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