Hello Kevin,

I have a 1968 Mercury 200 model, 20 Horse with the breaker type phelon magneto ignition – no switchbox.

I have had it since it was new – my Dad actually purchased it when I was a kid – and always had to manual start it (no electric start kit).

Last year I came across an electric start kit that included the starter motor, solenoid, internal harness and choke solenoid and purchased it – and then let it sit in its box for a year. About a month ago I picked up an external harness and figured I would install and wire the electric start and choke.

I purchased a key switch for Magneto Type Ignition (3 postion – off, on, start with push to choke) and wired everything up. Diagram of switch is below and here is how I’ve set up the boat wiring  for the switch:

• Red wire from harness, B (battery)
• Yellow wire from harness, S (solenoid)
• Black wire from harness, M (ground to solenoid)
• Grey wire from harness, C (choke)

It works fine as far as choking and starting and I am not utilizing the “ignition circuit” terminal as it provides 12 volts when switch is in the on position. However: I’m sure you know this already but the existing kill switch for this motor is located on the lower cowl and has two wires, a salmon color wire and a white wire, that connect to the terminal block (which is where both coil wires attach as well) and of course, to kill the motor you are simply creating a ground in the ignition circuit by pushing in on this kill switch.

I am aware that the upper “M” terminal (Magneto Circuit) on the key switch will complete a circuit to the lower “M” terminal (which is grounded) when the switch is off, thus providing a path for ground in this upper “M” terminal.

Scenario:

I have 2 wires that come off the engine harness (salmon and white) that are supposed to provide a ground to kill the engine but I only have one terminal on the key switch (the upper “M” terminal) that can provide this path. Obviously, I cannot connect both wires (salmon and white) to this terminal because it will create continuity between both coils which will kill the engine.

So here’s my boat wiring question:

How do use this ignition switch to kill my engine? I know I’m being somewhat ridiculous here when all I have to do is reach behind me and depress the engine kill switch mounted on lower cowl. However, I would simply like the ignition switch to be utilized for this as well. Am I missing something like another terminal or can it be done with this switch?

Thanks,

Cecil

Hi Cecil,

If you chase the salmon and white wires down on the engine, you will see that one goes to ground and one goes to the magneto. Connect the one that does NOT go to ground to the open M post on your switch.

If this is not obvious, remove the ground wire from the M post on the key switch, connect the salmon wire to one of the M posts and the white wire to the other.

This will solve your issue,

Kevin

Hey Kevin,

I am going to try the latter (removing the ground wire from the M post and connecting white wire there and salmon wire on other M post). Will let you know.

Appreciate your response.

Cecil
=========================================
Hey Kevin,

Well, you are correct!

I assumed the black wire had to be connected to the M post on key switch in order to provide a ground for the solenoid but apparently it is already grounded via the internal harness.

I put salmon wire on one M post and white wire on other M post. Hooked both these wires from internal harness to terminal block, started engine and when I turned key off, motor stopped.

Sometimes I question my competence in such areas and feel quite inferior when situations like this occur..

Thanks again,

Cecil

Kevin,

I have a Four Winns 248 with a 5.0 Volvo Penta engine.

I went to the boat today just to run the engine a little so everything gets some oil around it – and found that despite pumping some fuel into it by pushing the OMC throttle it just was not sparking. After trying this a couple of times, I turned off power at ignition.

After leaving it for a minute or two, I found that when I turned ignition power was not coming to main panel and so…no ignition.

I checked fuses in the marine electrical panel on right of helm and couldn’t see a problem. I also checked to make sure that the circuit breaker on console hadn’t popped. Unless something has blown like fuse or circuit breaker, I’m not sure what could be causing the problem.

Any help on tracking this one down would be appreciated.

Thanks

Vic

Hi Victor,

What year is your boat? This will help me determine the boat wiring between the engine and the battery.

All 248 Vistas have the same fuse block at the helm, but an older 248 would get the helm power from the main engine plug and a newer one would have a separate power circuit supplying power to the helm.

Kevin

Hi Kevin,

Thank you for replying, the Four Winns we have is a 1999/2000. It was sold in October of 1999.

The problem only occurred today and the power came on at the ignition the first couple of times and starter motor was turning. I was just waiting a few minutes to see if I flooded and then when I switched back on, there was no power to the main console.

I’m wondering if it might be the OMC Thruster control, it says in the manual that it has a safety feature preventing it from starting unless in Neutral. Basically, I’m wondering if it’s a micro switch problem inside this thruster lever, unfortunately it just mentions the safety feature but don’t tell you if it cuts out the power to the ignition if it isn’t in neutral properly.

I’ve only had the boat a little while and I thought the Thrust Lever was purely mechanical, but now I’m wondering if the power is routed through the lever neutral protection thus stopping you from starting the boat.

The boat wiring diagrams provided in the users hand book shows me that power goes via safety switch so I think I might be right.

So all that remains, I guess, is to get the thing back into neutral properly and see if that fixes it! The button on top of the OMC control is a push down and does not give a very positive response so it may be that I just didn’t have it in neutral .

I’ll let you know how I get on. Unless you think it may be something else ?

Thanks Again

Vic

Hi Victor,

On your boat, power is fed to the helm fuse from the engine main engine plug. The ignition power circuit leaves the helm fuse block, to the ignition breaker, through the emergency shut off switch, and back to the key switch.

If your instruments turn on when the key is on, you have power to the ignition. The yellow/red, start wire runs from the ignition switch to the neutral safety switch in the throttle/shifter. If the switch is bad or not in neutral, it does not allow current to flow to the starter. From the shifter, the starter wire heads straight to the engine (through the same engine plug that supplies power to the helm).

The switch can be easily by-passed for testing, but getting to the wire may be a challenge. If there is not a flush cup holder in the helm near the shifter that can be slid out to peek inside, I would access the yellow/red wire through the shifter. Remove the plastic cover over the shifter, remove the four mounting screws that hold the shifter in place, and slide the shifter out to access the yellow/red wires.

The yellow/red wire pigtails on the OMC control is about 24″ long. The OMC side of the connection is a .156 female bullet connector similar to this only yellow. Unplug both connectors, hold the male terminals together, and try starting the engine.

If the engine will consistently start when you hold the terminals together, but will not when connected, either you have the shifter in the wrong position or the micro-switch is faulty. This OMC control was used for over a decade and they never changed the switch. It should be easy to locate a replacement.

Hope this helps,

Kevin

Hi Kevin,

Just wanted to say thankyou for your time and advice.

Thank you.

And to let you know I traced the problem to the Deadman switch which is a bit dodgy, so I need to replace it.

I’ve had a look around at deadman switches and there seems to be two types, a Break switch and Make Switch. On my 248 the switch cuts the signal when the center pin pops out, i.e., when you pull the lanyard off the pin pops out and the circuit stops so I would call that a circuit Break !!

I really do not know what would happen with a circuit make switch, do you know anything about these ?

Thanks Kevin, I really appreciate your help .

Vic

Hi Victor,

The switch used on your Four Winns is considered to be a break or normally open switch.

Outboard motors use a lanyard switch that would be a make or normally closed switch. When the lanyard is pulled, the circuit is completed between the magneto and ground. Grounding the magneto makes the engine spark stop just like on lawn mowers, chainsaws, snowblowers, etc.

Hope this helps,

Kevin

Dear Kevin,

I am currently beginning my first boat wiring project, a total rewire of a small Owens cruiser from the late ’60s.

Here’s my problem:

The old wiring runs behind the original paneling and headliner. I could try dismantling everything to remove and replace the wires, but am concerned about damaging any of the woodwork. It’s old. It’s gorgeous. It would be a bitch to replace.

I don’t mind leaving the old wiring in place and just running a new harness, but that still leaves the problem of installing the new wires without causing any damage.

Any ideas?

RP

Dear Ron,

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