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I tested my ignition kill switch this morning for the first time since I bought my boat new in 2000 with a Yamaha C115. I pulled the kill switch lanyard while flushing out the motor on the driveway, and to my dismay and disappointment, the motor did not die as it should. This really irritates me since I have religiously hooked the lanyard to my life jacket when up on plane for obvious safety reasons. Now I find out, all of my extra effort to be safe was for nothing.
I removed the kill switch, which is part of a 704 remote control and disassembled it in the shop. I was glad to see that it is serviceable, but at first inspection, it does not look so.
I first tested the switch with an ohm meter, and sure enough, without the lanyard clip in place, there was no continuity as there should be.
Using two open end wrenches, I gently unscrewed the switch housing that is in two pieces. There is a contact washer that is connected to the switch stem and spring. The washer comes in contact with two wire contacts in the base of the housing when the lanyard clip is not in place. Both the washer and contacts had corrosion/rust on them to the point that they did not make electrical contact.
I tried to clean the washer, but it was badly pitted, so I flipped the washer over by removing the e-lock that is holding it in place and used the clean backside. I cleaned the two wire contacts by scraping them with an exacto knife.
When reassembling, put a little water resistant grease (silicon grease preferably) to the o-ring that fits at the base of the threads.
I know now to test the kill switch on a regular basis. How many times have you heard about some poor soul getting thrown out of his boat and the motor kept running - usually because the kill switch lanyard was not attached to his body. If I get thrown out and have that lanyard attached to me, I darn sure want that kill switch to do its job!
Good luck,
Ken K
I removed the kill switch, which is part of a 704 remote control and disassembled it in the shop. I was glad to see that it is serviceable, but at first inspection, it does not look so.
I first tested the switch with an ohm meter, and sure enough, without the lanyard clip in place, there was no continuity as there should be.
Using two open end wrenches, I gently unscrewed the switch housing that is in two pieces. There is a contact washer that is connected to the switch stem and spring. The washer comes in contact with two wire contacts in the base of the housing when the lanyard clip is not in place. Both the washer and contacts had corrosion/rust on them to the point that they did not make electrical contact.
I tried to clean the washer, but it was badly pitted, so I flipped the washer over by removing the e-lock that is holding it in place and used the clean backside. I cleaned the two wire contacts by scraping them with an exacto knife.
When reassembling, put a little water resistant grease (silicon grease preferably) to the o-ring that fits at the base of the threads.
I know now to test the kill switch on a regular basis. How many times have you heard about some poor soul getting thrown out of his boat and the motor kept running - usually because the kill switch lanyard was not attached to his body. If I get thrown out and have that lanyard attached to me, I darn sure want that kill switch to do its job!
Good luck,
Ken K
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