Questions About Replacing Neutral Safety Switch

[ERock82]

I have a Quicksilver 3000 control for my boat. The seller bypassed the neutral safety switch and I want to get it fixed so I have a working one. I tried connecting the wires that were bypassed and it's clear that the switch is not working because it won't start unless wires remain bypassed.

I have kind of figured out how to remove the control box (it is a side mount and very hard to access). I have a few of questions I am hoping someone here may be able to answer:

1.) When I remove the control box, can I keep the throttle cables attached to get to the switch? If they must be removed, is it difficult to reattach them to the control box?

2.) What am I looking for when I get to the switch?? How do I know that it is actually bad and that I need a new switch to fix it?

3.) If I do put a new switch in, is there a way to test that it works before putting everything back together? The box would be separated from the throttle handle part and is going to be a huge pain to remove and put back. I'll want to make sure I have got it all fixed before reassembling.


Finally, does anyone have a link to where I can buy the replacement switch?

Thanks!

 

[alldodge]

Need to know what your working on. Outboard, inboard, 2 or 4 cycle

 

[ERock82]

It's a Mercury Outboard 50 hp 2 stroke 3 cylinder on a 14 ft Bayliner boat.

 

[alldodge]

It's a Mercury Outboard 50 hp 2 stroke 3 cylinder on a 14 ft Bayliner boat.

For your motor to run the magneto needs to be ungrounded. Your key switch will have two M connections which one side goes to the magneto and the other should go to ground. Both connections should use black wire. What needs to happen is when the kill switch is in run mode there should be a open connection thru it to ground. When the switch is in the other position it should close the ground.




Most kill switches can be flipped over so you can get a closed or open connection depending on what is needed. The switch is flipped over and the cover for the switch is not to show RUN

 

[alldodge]

Need to change just a bit, sorry my bad. The motor is still killed as said but note in this pic, the kill switch is on the side with the magneto. So the key kills the motor by applying a ground thru the key switch, but the actual kill switch is before the key switch (which make since). Note the Black/Yell wire on the magneto side

 

[wrench 3]

Check out http://www.4shared.com/web/preview/pdf/L6S9BH1u courtesy of the late Don S.
You can test the operation of the switch with an ohm meter. Put the test leads on the two wires from the switch. When the shifter's in neutral the meter should show continuity.