Chasing my Tail!!! lol

Hi All, new to Mercruiser and such a god send to be part of the forum!! Ok, Ill try to be brief. Just bought 1998 SeaRay180 Mercruiser 3.0 Alpha. Inboard s/n 0L040980 Boat was running great and one day 2 weeks ago i go to start and i just hear 1 click, it is coming from the Slave solenoid, I watch a video or two and someone mentions that its the part and i swap it out, I took pics before i replaced it and i put it back together, obliviously that was not the issue, I proceed to replace battery (which needed to be replaced anyway) and i clean all terminals and wires and i start the troubleshooting process. this is where it gets strange... I use a test light to start the testing at the Slave Solenoid and i realize that the wire diagram and the troubleshooting sheet i am using does not reflect the correct order of my wires on the Slave its almost like they are on backwards, I have the whole boat ripped apart now (lmao) like i mentioned before, i took a pic of how the slave was wired before i replaced it, i am now wondering if someone messed with my boat on the dock (had a minor altercation with a rich ******* the day before my boat started with this, I guess my boat was not as nice as his oh well (maybe i am being paranoid) Also while i had the boat apart i got the starter out and i am going to bring that to the autoparts store for testing at lunchtime today. Enclosed is a couple of pics and maybe the old slave is just wired differently? wifes getting mad!! lol Thanks so much for any advise or tell me that im an idiot too LOL!! glad through this whole process i am bonding with the engine and the boat Thanks again John

somebody spliced in an orange instead of the Red/Purple. solenoid is correct Constant 12v to 1 large lug, large Yellow/rd stripe to other large lug.Small yellow/red to one small lug, other small lug is black to ground

Thanks so Much BTDoc !!!! so my small lugs are backwards? the wire diagram shows the black wire should be on the left enclosed is a trouble shooting sheet i was following and it shows black to left to, im so confused lol

The small connections are NOT polarized. They can connect on either location.

The same is true for the large connections. They can be connected either side.

Thanks Kghost!!!!! Ill update the post after i find out the status of the starter. my luck its fine lol!!!!

and not the best quality job adding the orange wire.....

I agree Mako!!! Im going to trace that one out and find out why former owner did this and correct. like boats in salt water dont have enough problems!!!!

Update: Starter Failed so bad it failed all three tests LMAO!!!!!! guy at O'Brian's looked at me weird when i said good LOL!!!