OOOOOOOOOOOoppppppppppps

"I am so sorry, 3 red wires, 2

"I am so sorry, 3 red wires, 2 purple, 1 yellow , 1 tan............that is what was on the ignition switch.........."

hhhhuuuuuhhhhh?????

hhhhuuuuuhhhhh?????

"this should have been an upda

"this should have been an update to another post by Cathy on the topic.

Contributors, please try to reply to your original post - do not create new posts on the same topic. Too hard to follow (right Scott?)."

"in case anyone is trying to h

"in case anyone is trying to help, there are at least two other posts on this topic. There is the original post, followed by a new post with updated info, followed by this post, which corrects the info in the second post.

Seriously, I am actually trying to help solve Cathy's problem! "

OK. saw other post. one of the

OK. saw other post. one of the reds goes to battery+. (at the engine) the other two were probably added to feed something. switch should have B mark on this terminal. purple is ignition.(I mark on switch) one to engine. the other probably feeds instruments. yellow (S mark) is to starter. should actually be yellow with red stripe. tan does not belong there at all. gonna have to stick your head in there and trace it.

"oh, another one, too. great."

"oh, another one, too. great."

"Thanks for the correction aga

"Thanks for the correction again Chris,I have just been pulling my hair out on this. The worst part is we probably caused this whole mess...............In any all should be well now. Won't try to repost any problems........"

"damn! 4, or 5 at least. very

"damn! 4, or 5 at least. very hard to follow, Cathy. try to stay with one. ppppppllllllleeeeeeeeaaaaaaassssssseeeee. thats kinda annoying too, don't ya think. S."

"Sorry guys , please., give me

"Sorry guys , please., give me a break. Won't cause you anymore grief..Just trying to help my hubby, not trying to get anyone upset or confused....Please forgive me........"

"Cathy, Please don't think

"Cathy, Please don't think people are picking on you here, it is just about posting etiquette. It is much easier to follow your original question and the response and answers you qet from other members if it stays in the same post. Otherwise a member has to go forward and backward to multiple posts to see if your question has been answered. Don't worry about being on the top post either, I think most members scroll down to see what dicussion has taken place on past posts and will chime in as the dicussion on a topic unfolds. Hang in there, it is forums like these that let you vent all your frustrations to other people with similar problems!"

"At the risk of "piling on

"At the risk of "piling on" (I do have good intentions!), following posting norms helps us all find problems that were discussed/resolved in the past. For instance, I'm sure all of us have used the search function to see if a problem similar to ours has been posted. Using very descriptive titles in the post, along with one thread on the topic helps to find that exact topic that solves our problem (hopefully!). That's why I took issue with a post entitled "oooopppppsss" - clearly not search-friendly. also, multiple posts with the exact same title are equally confusing - especially when the posts are actually one thread.

Cathy, I apologize if it feels like we're picking on you - we're not. All of the suggestions are targeted at ALL of this forum's users - including me!

Ok, let's get back to problem solving!"

"As I said in the pryor posts.

"As I said in the pryor posts........God knows which one because of the error of my posting ways.LOL, Anyway, I think we originally caused this whole problem...Not to be taken lightly I will recap.......Bought the boat, Hooked up earmuffs at home, (being new to boat owning,didn't even look at the flow of water from the outdrive, if there was any). Took the boat out and it overheated and died. We got the boat back in after letting it cool, and strangely enough it did start. Then the research and problems begane. When we took the outdrive off and apart, due to my husband swearing he saw something drop into the propeller, we couldn't get the outdrive back in. Why? Bad bellows for the u-joint. Old......Then we had problems with forward and reverse, we thought the clutch dog was shot, oh and by the way someone loaned us ther manual for OMC outdrives, thank God. And we still didn/t get to the impeller yet......LOL What was the problem with shifting after many days and hours of trying. Called another guy, retired diesal mechanic who works on everyone's boat, and get this *he won't take any cash* but he complains all the time that he works on so many boats.....He spent 2 hours getting the shift cable off. It was no good. Bought a new one. Put that in, then the power. What was that. We thought it was the ignition key, purchased a new one. Hubby lost his little wiring diagram.Yuck , but it wasn't that, it was the fuse block under the panel inside cuddy. Fixed that . Finally replaced the impeller and it still didn't work. Now our friend who gave us the manual came over, with his impeller and showed us, we had that right, we tried again, still nothing. He looked at our ear muffs and didn't like the way it looked to him. He noticed what I tried to tell my husband, that they weren't fitting tightley, Got his and it worked like a top. But old fuel made the boat stall out. Then when hubby tried to start it again nothing. Thought we had a bad key switch again,but nooooooo, even though he is going back to the old one......The shift control was not completely in nuetral causing the kill switch to kick in.......How do we know, he found that little arm last night on the engine, and pushed the throttle into neutral and it started. I learned a lot. Don't be in a hurry, don't give up, and check out those muffs, they could be bad. That is why I think we caused the problem. Only one question went unasnswered , why did the previouse owner take out the t-stat and not replace it? Our mechanic said this, he takes his out every winter too, winterizes the boat and buys a new one every year. Maybe the previouse owner forgot..........Who knows. We needed those parts anyway, and we definately got to know our boat. You know filling the outdrive, removing the outdrive, seals, cables, kill switches, wiring, you name it. I hope to be able to go out this weekend. Thank you one and all and I hope everyone can benefit from our experience,we couldn't have done it without this forum,our friends , family, and our new friends, on the net and in the fishing world............
'"

this is why marine surveyors s

this is why marine surveyors stay in business.

"Wow, thats a long story. don&

"Wow, thats a long story. don't give up. don't start new posts. you may get out there yet. sorry I yelled at you, but could not put all that together. I will get these if you post again.(on this post)"

Holy Cow! That was a painful r

Holy Cow! That was a painful read. Hope the mechanics go smoother than the posting.

yeah. I hope I didn't scar

yeah. I hope I didn't scare the poor lady off. it was confusing trying to track multiple posts.(and I was in a bad mood) maybe the oops track will get her going. certainly got lots of attention to her problems.