coolhand1701
New member
"Hello,
I hope you can help
"Hello,
I hope you can help me. I have a 1972 Johnson 85 hp outboard with hydroelectric shift. Model number 85ESL72. The switch that sends a charge to the blue and green wires went bad, so I rigged up saomething external to do the job. I hooked up a double switch and mounted it next to the throttle control. I also put a cover over it, so as not to accidentally hit a switch and somehow change from forward to reverse while under power. I set it up so that when the left switch is up and the right is down, a positve charge is sent to the green wire, putting the lower unit in neutral. When the right hand switch is flipped up along with the left, a charge is sent to the blue wire along with the green wire putting the lower unit in reverse. When both switches are in the down position, the lower unit is in forward. For some reason, the engine always cranks in gear when I try to start it. When the engine starts, it will immediately go to neutral if the switches are set that way, but when the switches are set for neutral, when I turn the engine off, the lower unit immediately jumps to forward. This makes the outboard very hard to turn over and I believe has contributed to a failure of my starter. Is there anything I can do that will make the lower unit stay in neutral after I turn off the key? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Andrew"
I hope you can help
"Hello,
I hope you can help me. I have a 1972 Johnson 85 hp outboard with hydroelectric shift. Model number 85ESL72. The switch that sends a charge to the blue and green wires went bad, so I rigged up saomething external to do the job. I hooked up a double switch and mounted it next to the throttle control. I also put a cover over it, so as not to accidentally hit a switch and somehow change from forward to reverse while under power. I set it up so that when the left switch is up and the right is down, a positve charge is sent to the green wire, putting the lower unit in neutral. When the right hand switch is flipped up along with the left, a charge is sent to the blue wire along with the green wire putting the lower unit in reverse. When both switches are in the down position, the lower unit is in forward. For some reason, the engine always cranks in gear when I try to start it. When the engine starts, it will immediately go to neutral if the switches are set that way, but when the switches are set for neutral, when I turn the engine off, the lower unit immediately jumps to forward. This makes the outboard very hard to turn over and I believe has contributed to a failure of my starter. Is there anything I can do that will make the lower unit stay in neutral after I turn off the key? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Andrew"