NO hot power to ignition

[alandchris]

Last chance for me before having to bring it in to the marine repair place...

If you know wiring, can you please help.

My electric start motor does not start - only if I put jumper cables from the battery directly to the power head ground and to the the starter selenoid.

The old motor was a 02 Merc 25 HP electric start 4 stroke. The new motor (with the problem) is a n 04 Merc 9.9 electric start. Note that the previous motor on this boat had tilt / trim and this new motor does not.

I opened the whole side of the boat up to trace the wires.

All wires coming INTO the fuse panel work perfect - all have juice Red and Black show a good test on the meter.

Here's what I see - 3 areas of evidence with "missing connectors".

Evidence 1
I have a red wire with a white stripe and black wire coming from the fuse panel on a 20 amp fuse - not connected to anything. A meter test shows juice coming thru these wires.

Evidence 2
I have a blue wire with a white stripe and black wire coming from the fuse panel - I believe it's on a 5 amp fuse - not connected to anything. A meter test shows juice coming thru these wires.

Evidence 3
I have a white plastic three way connector (female side only) where there are 6 wires - 2 red with white stripe, 2 blue with white stripe and 2 green with white stripe. Each of these same color wires are hooked together and occupy the same connector "pin" (ie 1 of 3). In other words, both red/wht on 1, both green/wht on another, both blue/white on the last. This connector has 1 set of the 3 different colors going into the control box ( I believe these feed the tilt / trim switch)... On the other side of the coin, the green/white and the blue/white go thru the boat cable down to the motor for the trim ( and are dangling by the plug since I don't have trim).
The red/white stripe on the other hand goes to the ignition switch "B" battery lug and is spliced via a connector to also go thru the boat cable to the motor - so this red/white wire goes to both the "B" ignition lug and into the motor. There is not other red type wire feeding into the ignition switch.


So I guess my question is - where am I supposed to get the power to feed the motor / ignition. Is it possible that there is a missing male side connector that would take the "Evidence 1 red/white stripe wire into the red/white side of the female connector that would then make the trim switch hot - but also feed down the the boat cable into the motor to make the starter hot ? If so then what about "Evidence 1's Black ground wire" where would that go. Does the blue/white, green/white need any hookup.

To test my theory, I jumped the Evidence 1 red/white wire to the red/white wire on the missing female connector - turned the key and it seems like I'm getting at least 1/2 juice to the starter - it turns the starter - but not enough to start the motor. (The batteries are good) Am I missing something here ?


Attached is a pic.

Al

 

[Randy169]

Re: NO hot power to ignition

Al:

Great troubleshooting and pic.

Would you take photos of the starter as well as the back of the ignition switch?

When you say the starter engages, but the engine does not start, do you mean the starter was not turning the engine fast enough? Or that you cranked and cranked and the engine did not start?

 

[alandchris]

Re: NO hot power to ignition

Randy169 -
thx for the reply

I don't have access to the camera yet - but if it helps - here is a description of the 6 lug ignition:

my current igntion switch as 6 tabs in the back of it -
M(raised up from the other 5 below) has 2 black wires with
yellow stripes
B - 1 red wire/white stripe (as mentioned in my first post of this thread.
M (another M? why?) this has 3 solid black wires to it
A - has 3 solid purple wires
C - has 1 solid yellow wire
S - has 1 yellow wire with red stripes

 

[alandchris]

Re: NO hot power to ignition

Is part of my problem that I'm missing a battery cable setup for the starting battery. In other words - I have one set currently where the black and red go up to the console, into the fuse panel - powers the pumps, lights and accessory switches, dash gauges, and also to the ignition. All this comes back thru the boat cable into the engine - it all appears to be hooked up correctly (color to color, ground to the powerhead and the red to the starter selenoid.

Do I need another set of battery cables from the starting battery directly to the motor - if so - where would it go to - ground/black to the powerhead ground and the positive/red to the "other side" of the starter selenoid?

 

[Randy169]

Re: NO hot power to ignition

I think I am getting a better pic now.

You have 2 batteries.
One is hooked up to the accessories. (We'll call this the secondary battery)
The other battery (starter or primary) is not hooked up to anything?

The starter solenoid:

1 - large red one direct from the starter battery (positive)
2 - small red one from ignition switch
3 - large black one direct from starter battery (ground)
4 - small black one that is also ground from ignition switch
(The grounds -3&4- may come direct from the starter battery and be connected to the engine ground)

You didn't say if the engine was turning over slowly or just not starting.