Replacing control box: 14-pin? 8-pin? 100-pin?

[DJ_Allatoona]

My motor is a Mercury 75HP made in 1986. Time for a new right-side mount control box as the current one (probably original) is banged up and sticky and the idle control arm is stiff, etc. Most of the new ones I see for sale have a 14-pin cable, but I also see 8-pin and 10-pin units.

I can't get to my boat for a couple of days, but how can I find out which type I need? And should I also buy new throttle and gear shift cables while I'm at it?

 

[Chris1956]

You should look up the wiring diagram for your motor on the maxrules site. Your motor will have battery, Ign kill, ground, choke, tach, ignition, start and overheat, plus two more wires for trim and trim down, if you have that.

So 8 pin is used if you have an external PTT panel, or 10 wire if you have PTT in the MerControl.

 

[DJ_Allatoona]

Well, it's got the T/T rocker switch on the thumb location on the throttle handle. So if I get the 14-pin model will there just be unused wires, or will the harness not even fit? 14-pin is by far the more commonly available.

 

[Dukedog]

your harness needs ta be an eight pin male but will have short blue/white, green/white, brown pig tails with bullet connectors stickin' out of tha molding at tha plug.. if you get a fourteen pin you will need an adapter at motor end...