Question on an 1985 Mecury 50hp outboard

[cicora]

Hi all,

I'm in the midst of rebuilding my newly bought pontoon boat. Today was rebuilding the carbs. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but I did run into a problem. When I took the cowling off the motor, I noticed two extremely frayed wires. I was wondering if anyone could tell me what they are. I've ordered a service manual for the engine but it won't be in until sometime next week and google searching didn't give much info. Right now I'm thinking they are the wiring for a tachometer since it goes up into the flywheel and the engine was starting fine with them frayed (now broken). My main concern is if they are resistor wires. If not (I'm hoping not), it will be easy enough to splice and replace. The photo's kinda suck because, well, I'm a bad photographer. The wries I'm talking about are the ones circled in red. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

[trott46]

Off the top of my head they look to be to the stator (charging system) I have no manual by me but that is what i would suspect easy check would be to run the engine on muffs and check to see if the batt is charging with a volt meter. Anyone smarter then me please chime in

[hotairgypsy]

post a pic backed up a bit...i am thinking it is the stator or the trigger...

[cicora]

I found an exploded diagram online showing that the wires were connected to a rectifier, which supports that the wires were part of the charging system. Based on that, I replaced the wires with new wire, put the carbs back in and she started right up. I used a voltmeter to check if the battery was charging and it was. Thanks for the help and suggestions. One week until I can put her in the water for the first time. I can't wait!