80 hp Mercury will not start after being at tilt position

I have a 1978 80hp Mercury 2 stroke that will not start after being in the tilt position for any length of time. We have a cottage on an island, and when the west wind picks up I set the boat with it's nose to the wind so the boat rides the waves nicely, and and tilt the motor so the motor does not touch the shallows.. I have a rope/anchor system so I can tie off the right side and the left side with ropes to the dock. When we are to go home I will tie the boat closer to the dock, drop the motor down and try to start.

A couple of times now the boat would not start and i have had to get towed back to the mainland shore. Is there a tilt kill switch I could override if this problem arises in the future?

There is a mercury tilt switch that can fail,no.20 if three cylinders http://www.marineengine.com/parts/m...40451-thru-0c221999-usa/electrical-components ,no.17 if 4 cyls http://www.marineengine.com/parts/m...6432900-usa/flywheel-stator-and-ignition-coil .You can disconnect this and see how you go.

And then LEAVE it disconnected. Even Merc doesn't use them anymore.

Jeff

haventaclue said:

There is a mercury tilt switch that can fail,no.20 if three cylinders http://www.marineengine.com/parts/m...40451-thru-0c221999-usa/electrical-components ,no.17 if 4 cyls http://www.marineengine.com/parts/m...6432900-usa/flywheel-stator-and-ignition-coil .You can disconnect this and see how you go.

Click to expand...

Is there a power cable to disconnect...?

A wire from the switch box, usually black with a white or yellow tracer. Some years used orange ("salmon").

Jeff

And one has even a blue wire to the switch box http://www.maxrules.com/oldmercs/Wiring/1966ona/31.jpg

That's usually the low speed charge wire from the stator.

Jeff

I was thinking distributor ignition