motor fire

[triggertrav]

I have a late 90's 75 hp merc that started on fire (I didn't believe it either when my dad told me what he did). It appears that it started in the voltage regulator and a good majority of the wires in that area joined in the blaze.

Anyhow, i am contemplating rebuilding all of it myself. Any one had this issue or experiences with it? Am i getting into something i should just hire out?

thanks

[harvey lee]

If you have boat insurance, I would turn a claim in and let the shop fix it.

[Traxxx]

I had the same thing happen a couple years ago. Took it in to get fixed and it ran about $375. The mechanic said he sees about four or five of those a year. He said it's usually a loose connection at the battery. When the connection is loose it sends the volts back into the regulator instead of the battery and that's when it melts and catches fire. He said to crank the starting battery connections down tight with a wrench. I think he also added an in-line fuse to prevent that from happening again. I'm sure you can do it yourself, just going to take some time.

[Tom7227]

I would think that it would be difficult to sort out what goes where and what gauge wires are used. Plus i would suspect that some components got fried as well. After screwing around with a motorcycle my thoughts are that you should get it done. Buying the new wiring harness would be the first step if you're headed in that direction.

Good luck and keep an extinguisher handy.

[SkunkedAgain]

If anything, post some pics. I'd love to see a post-fire outboard picture!

[Farley]

I had that happen, it cost me $140 for the new voltage regulator or whatever it was, I installed it myself. I caught it before it completly melted so just the wires on the regulator were melted. It happened because I hooked the starting battery up backwards, not my boat, two black wires with copper connectors, didnt knwo which was which. Figured if it started up it was right......Wrong.

[triggertrav]

hope you enjoy.

[AlwysFshn]

If I had your mechanical skills, I would probably just hire it out....

[leech~~]

hope you enjoy.

Oh no, I don't like seeing this. I have maybe the same motor on my boat! Anything going on right before this happened?

[triggertrav]

my gauges started 'shorting out', they would work fine then just stop then work fine again shortly after. The first mechanic that i talked to said that was the start of it....i have no clue.

other than that i have no clue.

[Tom7227]

I think you're past the wiring stage there. I don't know what all those box looking things are but unless you have a way of testing them to see if needed I think you could spend an awful lot of money on replacing things. I also suspect that if you buy an electronic part it's yours whether you need it or not. Worst thing that I see happening is that you replace a number of things but miss one crucial thing and end up frying what you're already done. I'm not sure that the average guy could do this even if he had a manual and the test tools.

[jentz]

hope you enjoy.

I have a bro in law who does this kind of thing out of his garage,He is disabled and mostly supplies advice,tools and support with some of the work if needed.He's on Diamond.If you want info PM me.

[GooBack]

my gauges started 'shorting out', they would work fine then just stop then work fine again shortly after. The first mechanic that i talked to said that was the start of it....i have no clue.

other than that i have no clue.

The Tachometer(if you have one) will usually be the first to start getting goofy.