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Purple wire

V

vintage

Contributing Member
"OK, I need a little help from

"OK, I need a little help from a savy 165 inline six guy. I pulled the engine this morning and I have every thing figured out fine for the install except one wire. Where the wire loom comes around the back of the fly wheel cover the loom splits and goes to the distributor and to the starter. At the starter the loom has a red wire, a yellow wire and a beige(or light brown) that goes to the starter. There is an orange that goes to the oil pressure sender. Then there is one 12ga. wire remaining that appears to be purple with an eye on the end large enough to go on a 7/16" or so bolt. I think it goes on the ground where the engine and the trim pump ground. Purple just isn't the normal color for a ground though. Also, how many of those fiber washers are supposed to be in between the flywheel cover mount and the transom mount at the back of the engine. Mine had one on one side and two on the other.

Thanks,

Eric <><"
 
"One fiber washer per side.
T

"One fiber washer per side.
The last tech may have had to use an extra to gain a little height for alignment, but that should not be necessary. Maybe whoever last installed it just screwed up.
Suggest you procure new installation hardware sets. This will give you new studs, spacers, fiber washers, coil springs, etc. Then you know what you are dealing with. The fiber washers and the double wound flat springs have to be in good condition. New ones are best.

As for the wiring, send me an email offline and I will send you a wiring diag that should help. Something does not sound right about that purple wire going to ground. Maybe someone has done some rewiring along the way without regard to color codes.

Purple is normally the hot wire running back from the key switch for the ignition power. As such it usually feeds the hot side of the coil, the alternator exciter, and the oil pressure switch for the electric fuel pump, if equipped.

Rod"
 
"I hope this does not post twi

"I hope this does not post twice. The wiring is all Mercruiser un-molested. I am going to unwrap a little of the harness to see if maybe it is a different color back under the tape. May have faded since 1973. My E-mail is [email protected] if you have an electronic version of the wiring.

Thanks,

Eric"
 
"Eric;
OK, I did not realize

"Eric;
OK, I did not realize we were dealing with a 35 year old boat.
The earlier wiring systems did not follow the same color coding as with the last 20 years or so, but I did find a 160/165 wiring diag in my Clymer manual. I don't have it in electronic format.

The only purple wire shown is from the up/out trim switch to the trim limit switch. There is no other purple wire shown. All grounds shown are black, if that's any help.

Rod"
 
"OK I unwrapped the wire loom

"OK I unwrapped the wire loom a little ways and it turned out to be a red wire. Not as red as the trim pump wire or the one from the alternator, but red. After every thing is hooked up and hot, I will tap that one a couple times on the starter solenoid (where all the hot wires gather)just to be sure before I hook it up. Sorry for the trouble and thanks for the help.

Eric <><"
 
That wire is definetley a gro

That wire is definetley a ground for one reason or another. I tapped it on the hot leg of the starter solenoid and got some serious snap and pop. Not real sure what to do with it now. Every thing works with out it hooked up. Kind of risky though. I have pretty much dismissed the idea of it being a hot wire that is shorted to ground. The wire loom is real good and original. Any thought would be great.

Eric
 
"Open the wire loom and trace

"Open the wire loom and trace it. Someone put it there for a reason. It may be shorted in the loom to a ground. If it is a ground, bolt it down and label it or replace it w/a black wire."
 
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