I had a wire short out that appeared to be a ground it went from the Fuel gauge to the grounding strip. When the guy in the marina took of the engine cover (Johnson 90 60Deg V4) there was a black wire that went into a 5 wire plug on the engine that was also melted about 6 inches or so. I skinned back the sheating and the wire appeared to be ok.

Since this happened the Tilt switches for the engine are reversed!

I know there must be a short somewhere, any suggestions?

That sounds bad. I don't know how much a new harness costs for that motor but you may need one.

By the way, welcome to the board.

Odd. I suspect if there was a short, you'd still be getting wires melting, at best. Or something more serious burning up, like the trim motor or switch. You sure that 5 pin connector got put back the right way?

Thanks for the replies, the trim switches were reversed before the 5 pin connector was pulled apart. the wire that burnt under the console was the ground from the fuel gauge to the grounding block, I will have to cut back more of the sheath to see if there are any other wires melted.

Another problem is that the self diagnostics (4 LED lights in the tack and the horn) aren't working either, I tested the wires and no juice to the purple wire that the Seloc Manual tells you to test.

Could the Ignition switch be the problem, the manual suggest that or the EMM could be burnt out, hope its not the EMM it says thats EXPENSIVE!!!!!!!!!

Just looking for ideas and also how to find the the short.

Thanks again you guys are fantastic.

If a GROUND wire shorted, it shorted TO SOMETHING WITH 12VDC ON IT.

There WILL be something else shorted, to that ground wire, elsewhere in the harness.

You cannot short a ground wire to ground, because it is grounded.
You CAN however short it to 12v power, which is actually, shorting the power to ground, not the other way.

Try posting here. http://www.thehulltruth.com/forums/forum-view.asp?fid=3
They are not family freindly but they are extremely knowledgable about outboards. Several outboard techs hang out there and 70% of the posters run outboards.

Put on your flame retardent suit before you post.

thank you all for your posts, I had to replace the rigging harness that was where the short was about mid cable.

Also found that the marina had reversed the battery cables on the battery hence the negative voltage at the starter.

All is well here in Boca Raton now, thanks again your posts helped me think outside the manual and that was how we found the fix!!!!!!!!!!!

Glad to hear it, thanks for the update.