"Greg" wrote in message
...
The tach does use the charging system, picking up the unregulated AC input
to
the rectifier.I would look for a loose connection before I started
thinking
"stator".

I would really like to think that it was a loose connection, but I have
examined the motor and couldn't find one.

A bit of history: I bought this houseboat a year ago. The motors ran very
poorly at low RPMs, and after 6 months of diddling with them I had the boat
hauled out, took the motors off and brought them to a Mercury factory
service center. The Tachs on both motors worked when I took the motors off.

When I put the motors back on I think that the tach worked. By the time the
boat was put back in the water, however, the port engine no longer had a
working tach. I figured that it was just a loose wire and I would fix it
once I got back to my slip.

When I got the boat back I popped the covers off both engines and inspected.
They are both hooked up the same, but the port engine has no tach reading.

I will be anchoring out this weekend and will use the opportunity to check
the charging system out. I suspect that the port motor is very weak in
charging but it was hard to tell because when I tested it the battery was
fully charged. After being anchored out for a day the battery should be
sufficiently discharged that I can better see the charge/voltage levels.

I could live without the charging circuit. I can't live without the tach.

Man, I am beginning to hate outboards.....


Rod