Snipped wires

[CharlieZulu]

Anyone know what these two snipped wires might be for on my 1987 90hp 3-cyl merc? (S/N 0B1774...) One is a tan color and the other is black.

My alarm system isn't working, and neither is my tach -- don't know if this is related or not.

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Snipped wires

The tan wire is very likely from the overheat sensor on the cylinder head. The sender is nothing more than a switch that closes if the engine overheats. That sends a ground to the alarm which sets it off. Since the wire is cut and the alarm doesn't work, that would say either the engine has an overheat problem that the previous owner decided to fix by simply cutting the wire or that the alarm itself was bad and sounded all the time so they disabled it. Neither of which is a smart move since now there is no way to tell if the engine has an oil or temp related problem. I have no idea what the black wire is but it usually is a ground wire.