What year is my 4 hp mercury

[colsan]

Re: What year is my 4 hp mercury

I've got to borrow, buy or make a DVA tester before I can carry on.
As I am not a sparky, I don't understand how the coils on stator work. 2 white wires join on terminal block stator, 1 yellow bolts to stator & 1 yellow bolts to ground (engine block) through the switch box, a brown and white wire goes from the trigger assy to switch box. So how does the power from the coils and the trigger assy create power to go to the switch box? Also where the brown and white wire comes from on the trigger switch what is that object called? is it the rectifier or doesn't my motor have one?

 

[bktheking]

Re: What year is my 4 hp mercury

It may not have a rectifier, I highly doubt it. Rectifiers are used to convert AC/DC, keep in mind the test if for an assortment of 2 cylinder motors. A regular meter won't read the high volts, that's why you need a DVA. The stator is what creates the high voltage to charge the coils, the trigger is detects flywheel rotation and fires each plug when required.

That's why just going out and buying a switchbox may or may not fix the issue, could be the box, stator or trigger or a combination. If you search the forums there is a listing for a cheap one from the states already to go.

 

[colsan]

Re: What year is my 4 hp mercury

BKtheking
I checked the brown and white wires from the trigger assy with an auto range DMM Kincrome K8014 that I borrowed from work. the reading was up and down abit 260 - 365, if I am correct that is within specs, I am not sure if or how to test the switch box though.

 

[bktheking]

Re: What year is my 4 hp mercury

Was that volts or ohms read??

 

[colsan]

Re: What year is my 4 hp mercury

volts, it was set on the V with 2 lines, 1 solid & 1 dashed. I had the switch box disconnected completely.

BK reading CDI P/N: 114-6222 installation guide (5.) it says to connect the orange from s/box to yellow from stator, my yellow goes to earth. is this because of the new version or is mine wired wrong?

I tested it again this morning different readings completely, with the auto range DMM disconnected it was reading up & down like a yoyo to 330.1 mV, I then tested it on a battery read 12.54volts after that it went back to reading the previous up & down stuff, so I've got no confidence it is working properly.

I think I'll go an buy a DVA adaptor today & read it with my multimeter

 

[bktheking]

Re: What year is my 4 hp mercury

Looking at the spec sheet on that meter something tells me it doesn't do direct voltage and I know from past experience that you are wanting AC voltage not DC, stators put out AC voltage, rectifiers convert to DC.

 

[bktheking]

Re: What year is my 4 hp mercury

I'm thinking the yellow goes to ground because there is no rectifier on the motor, it says in the pdf to disconnect the yellow wire from the stator to the rectifier which you do not have.

Simple check with a DVA- Disconnect the orange wire, set your meter to ac, connect 1 lead to orange and one to ground and get someone to pull it over- should read between 180-400V, the higher the better. If you have nothing then the stator is shot. Thh test with the * explains it all, one test rules out the pack and the other rules out the stator. The simple check without a DVA is the coil, test it with the meter on ohms.

 

[colsan]

Re: What year is my 4 hp mercury

I live near a City and work in another but I couldn't buy a DVA Adaptor, so only choice now is tomorrow I'll see if I can buy the parts to make one. One shop I went into wanted $32.00 for the box so I am thinking of soldering it all together and submerging it in epoxy resine as I have plenty in the shed, do you think that'll work.
Also to make sure I have it right, way up above in the responses in making a DVA Adaptor, those 2 low profile binding posts (red & black) is where wires go from to the test the item (eg stator) and the 2 pronges on the banana plug is where you connect the ohm meter?

 

[bktheking]

Re: What year is my 4 hp mercury

correct

 

[colsan]

Re: What year is my 4 hp mercury

Today I bought a motor only, no leg off ebay, brought it home, the flywheel/timing marker is different (serial #5590145 suggests it's a 4.5 but engine cowel has 4hp on it. It has the same switch box (339-6222A8), it has spark so tomorrow I'll have a play with them and see what is buggered on mine by swapping parts.

I haven't made that DVA yet but I will.

2 questions

1. On this motor the yellow wire (stator coil) is connected to the 2 orange wires (switch box and stop switch). My motor had the yellow wire connected to engine earth. Was mine wired wrong, where is your yellow wire connected?

2. I noticed on the switch box at least one wire corroded looking any suggestions on what to do with it or them?

 

[Laddies]

Re: What year is my 4 hp mercury

 

[bktheking]

Re: What year is my 4 hp mercury

Laddies- Where do you come up with these diagrams???? We should make a library of diagrams as a sticky, this is great!

 

[colsan]

Re: What year is my 4 hp mercury

I agree

BKtheking, do you have any suggestions on what to do with wires from switch box where coating is degrading and wires corroding, can these be replaced do you think?

 

[bktheking]

Re: What year is my 4 hp mercury

It's iffy, depends on the wire, if it's aluminum it's hard to work with. Won't you be getting a different box?

 

[colsan]

Re: What year is my 4 hp mercury

my old box has good wires, this other motor I got, the one that has spark has some wires not looking so good.

 

[bktheking]

Re: What year is my 4 hp mercury

The problem with aluminum wire is that the solder doesn't stick. If you need to replace some, good quality waterproof butt connectors work well to extend the old wire from a usable spot.

 

[colsan]

Re: What year is my 4 hp mercury

The only corroded wire was the white wire from the switch box, it appears to be made of copper (I could be wrong), I solder a new one as best I could because it fell apart white trying to disconnect, hooked it all up and fired the motor up, wouldn't run for long, appears to be lacking in fuel the tape wouldn't open properly feels gritty (I'll clean the carby now) and I noticed no water pumping so I'll drop the leg off today & check water pump out.

Next project is to strip the pitch out of the old s/box and see if these things can be repaired or as another bloke spoke of on another thread try to make a switch box from scratch

This is a fantastic site and I really really appreciate everyone contributions in my problem, thanks All!!
I've made a file of all the information relating to my motor and other interesting info for future reference.

I'll let you know when she is running properly.

Okay,
I 'm back with an update of my proceedings on the switch box.



My original box had some exploratory work done prior and was filled with silicone. It is apparent that one of the wires had corrosion problems and they soldered the end of a wire and poked it into the hole inside the switch box hoping it would work.

I have opened up the switch box and found it is a copper wire and goes through a holding bracket then soldered onto a motherboard, I unsoldered the end and replaced with a new wire, tested it and it works as well now.

I was going to clean the switch box I stripped down and identify all components (by a technician not me) and make one but now I have repaired my old one I'm going to reset it and put it back on.

I'll take some pics of the stripped s/box in case anyone wants to see, I'll have to learn how to post a photo first.

how about that! I couldn't have gotten this far without you!

Thanks!!

 

[colsan]

Re: What year is my 4 hp mercury

I hope this works, I have photos as attachment thumbnails.
1st photo is what the switch box was like when I got the motor, I didn't know the brown wire was a substitute for the original
2nd is inside the switch box, I remove the casing and some pitch.
3rd is a photo of my motor plus the motor only I picked up on ebay
4th & 5th wire shows where I replaced a corroded wire.

I have repaired the 2 switch boxes and reset them with bathroom silicone and I tested them both and they are both working perfectly.

It took me about 1/2 hr to pull apart , repair and reseal. Bye the way where I cut the outer plastic casing I plastic welded them back together put silicone over the switch box where I removed the pitch, pushed into the casing then topped up anywhere the silicone was required and sat in the sun to let the silicone set.

 

[bktheking]

Re: What year is my 4 hp mercury

Cool, now I know where I find parts! glad you got it working.