Hi, folks. I'm new here.
I recently bought a boat that has a 1969 Mercury 500 "Thunderbolt" outboard, 50 horsepower. The serial number starts with "262" which is how I determined the model year.
It seems in decent shape except for the engine wiring. The wires from the rubber connector on the cowling that lead up to the solenoid, choke, starter, etc. are in bad shape. I found this out when the insulation flaked off the choke wire and it shorted to the solenoid, causing the choke to stay on all the time. Touching the wires causes more insulation to flake off, and the copper inside is apparently corroding away too.
It looks as though someone tried to repair this once before. There's electrical tape everywhere. I would just run new wires, but the connector seems to be a molded piece of rubber -- I can't access the pins to connect new wires.
It looks as though I need a new harness. I have done lots of web searches and I'm so far unable to find one. Does anyone have any ideas? If you've faced a similar situation, how did you solve the problem?
Scott
I recently bought a boat that has a 1969 Mercury 500 "Thunderbolt" outboard, 50 horsepower. The serial number starts with "262" which is how I determined the model year.
It seems in decent shape except for the engine wiring. The wires from the rubber connector on the cowling that lead up to the solenoid, choke, starter, etc. are in bad shape. I found this out when the insulation flaked off the choke wire and it shorted to the solenoid, causing the choke to stay on all the time. Touching the wires causes more insulation to flake off, and the copper inside is apparently corroding away too.
It looks as though someone tried to repair this once before. There's electrical tape everywhere. I would just run new wires, but the connector seems to be a molded piece of rubber -- I can't access the pins to connect new wires.
It looks as though I need a new harness. I have done lots of web searches and I'm so far unable to find one. Does anyone have any ideas? If you've faced a similar situation, how did you solve the problem?
Scott