New switch key question

[mr steve wayne]

I have a 1985 Sea Ray. I am installing a new ignition switch.
what I see is Yellow with red stripe to solenoid,
Purple to Ignition
Now it has a red wire about 5 inches long. Does this go to fuse and then to battery? Or just straight into the ignition switch?
Thanks

[mmwjr]

The red wire should be on the B terminal of the ignition switch and the other end should go to a 15 amp fuse either in line in the harness or in the fuse block, either of which are feed by the red power wire in the Mercruiser helm harness.

[mr steve wayne]

Thank You, That helps me a lot. Having no wiring diagram for the switches is
hard. The wiring diagram on other models is CLOSE to mine but not exact. I have searched all over the internet for a owner manual for this boat, and even Sea Way says it may be imposable.
when I chose this boat to restore I never new it would be this hard to find info about it. It is not like getting a build sheet and restoring CAR!
Thank You
Steve

[mmwjr]

Steve - attached is the Mercruiser wiring harness diagrams, hope this helps.

merc wiring.pdf

[mr steve wayne]

Thank you very much, that will help me a lot. What I am missing is any diagram for my toggle switch's. I thank I replaced them correctly BUT:
I have a black wire coming from my Gauges that looks like it goes to my switch panel or ignition and has a male connector that I found unattached. Do you have any idea if it would plug in to my ignition or one of the other switches on my panel?
please advise,
Thanks
Steve

[mr steve wayne]

Originally Posted by mr steve wayne

Thank you very much, that will help me a lot. What I am missing is any diagram for my toggle switch's. I thank I replaced them correctly BUT:
I have a black wire coming from my RPM Gauge that looks like it goes to my switch panel or ignition and has a male connector that I found unattached. Do you have any idea if it would plug in to my ignition or one of the other switches on my panel? Very Puzzling to me.
please advise,
Thanks
Steve

It is quite a task restoring this boat, but I like it and I appreciate your knowledge you give me.

[mmwjr]

The switch wiring would be from Sea Ray but from what I’ve seen they don’t provide wiring diagrams on small boats. A few pictures might help but black should be 12V negative and won’t go to the ignition switch as it’s all positive wires. I would think the black wire would connect to the black wire in the Mercruiser harness, see page 4F-13 of the pdf I provided.

[mr steve wayne]

Thank you I will keep looking for the male connector that this came from. I am sure in my restoration of the 84 Sea Ray I will find it as I am repairing other areas. It seams the length of it does not go past my switch area, Thanks I will keep looking.
I am working on another project on this boat but I will post another question about it.
Steve

[mmwjr]

Frankly that connector looks like something a previous owner did and it’s not factory. It may be best to rewire it.

[mr steve wayne]

Because the black wire is coming from my RPM gauge, I am not sure what to do with it so I cannot rewire it. None of the wiring diagrams look exactly like mine. Tracing what I see on the wire Schematics I do not show a plug in around my dash. So I will have to check it out more when I get into my restoration further and start my boat to check controls and gauges in about a week.
Thank You for your input, it is just another mystery I will be working to solve.
The problem is the male connector, it may be a ground wire from a radio the previous owner had in the boat. That connector did ground something.

[mmwjr]

The tach should have 3 wires; purple for power, black for ground and gray for signal from negative terminal of the ignition coil.