Mostly good news on motor.. dealer says it is voltage regular and connecting wires which melted most likly caused by a grounding problem which could be at one of the battery connections, but he won't know until they check it out. Dealer says it's very uncommon but has scene it twice before. Fire was unlikely & black smoke only had one place to go and that was out the side vents... should be back up and running by end of week.
I am going to take Big John's advice thou and have two fire extinguisher's onboard from now on it's cheap insurance..
this happen to my father and myself about 4yrs ago. we where on newfound one of the scariest thing that happen to me. I took to dover marine and they said it was happening on that model mine is a 04 30hp. it was the ignitor wires rub the coating off. luckly it was still under warrent. they did a great job. my brother has a 40hp same and he had his fix before it happen to him. the wires are to short.
Talked with Mercury Marine service department hoping they might stand behind my Mercury outboard electrical problem and replace voltage regulator and wiring harness at "no cost", even thou my outboard warranty expired.
Answer is No it's off warranty !!
That's fine but I will NEVER BUY another Mercury Outboard AGAIN ! My feeling is a Good Company would stand behind this serious electrical problem regardless of warranty or not ...
Billy - call Mercury twice this morning but they don't want to admit that they have an electrical problem with their outboards, as two dealer's have admitted to me... don't buy Mercury unless you want electrical problems down the road, they have have thousands of melt downs...
