1987 Mercury 80hp questions

[mildewing]

I bought a used 87 mercury 80hp from a guy on Craigslist. I have never worked on a boat motor before so i have lots of questions. First is the wiring. I tried to tilt the motor down to check motor height and the trim did nothing. In looking at the wiring i noticed that it is missing half of a fuse holder and wire. It appears that a couple of harnesses got chaffed where they come out of the cowl and the PO took out the fuse to compensate but i'm not sure.

 

[mildewing]

Didn't mean to end that post yet. These pics will take some practice.

Here is a full pic. That new red wire is spliced into the harness and goes where it appears the fused wire should go. At the bottom is a factory red/pink wire that goes to nowhere.

 

[mildewing]

Here is the chaff

 

[mildewing]

I cleaned up the chaffed spot and it only affects the one wire. I've been searching all day and can't find an exact wiring diagram but most seem close. It appears that the wire from the remote with the dead end fuse goes to the solenoid but there is no other half there. The trim was working when i bought it so i don't want to just add the wire.

 

[mildewing]

Any help at all would be appreciated. Just finished the transom and hoping to take it out this weekend.

The spliced wire in the main harness was soldered on as a replacement, not really spliced. There is two spots it says fuse but no fuse in either spot. Just the half a fuse coming out of the tilt harness. I can't understand how the tilt was working when I bought it if the half fuse wire was disconnected.

 

[mildewing]

I ran a jumper from the fuse to the solenoid and the trim works again and the smoke stayed in the wires.

Now on to the cowl. It seems there is part of the front latch is missing. It doesn't stay latched unless i manually stretch the spring across.