Electric shock issue.

[mauryc]

Gentlemen,

My 87' 175 Johnson is providing a nice shock when my hands are damp on my stainless steering wheel. Obviously a short somewhere. Any feedback on what may be causing the problem? She was cutting out a little last time out and the carbs have recently been redone so I'm leaning toward electrical. I haven't run her at night yet to check fo a arc. The neighbors will love that :)

TIA,

Maury

[reelapeelin]

Originally Posted by mauryc

Gentlemen,

My 87' 175 Johnson is providing a nice shock when my hands are damp on my stainless steering wheel. Obviously a short somewhere. Any feedback on what may be causing the problem? She was cutting out a little last time out and the carbs have recently been redone so I'm leaning toward electrical. I haven't run her at night yet to check fo a arc. The neighbors will love that :)

TIA,

Maury

You might wanna leave all hatch covers, doors etc open till you find the short..if it arcs in and area that has the possibility of collecting gas fumes it could become a bigger issue pretty quickly...unlikely, but still...

pull the cowl off the motor and run it as you suggest at night, then trace to the battery....if not found by then, start tracing to the dash...good luck and let us know...

[garagenc]

check to see if a chaffed/bare wire is laying against the steering assembly.

[spareparts]

does it only do it while the engine is running?

[mauryc]

yep, only when running.

[spareparts]

its probably something to do with the tach wire or the kill switch, disconnect the gray wire at the tach and see if it still does it, look around at the gray wire's routing, also look at the black/yellow wire as well.

[Kaug23]

Originally Posted by mauryc

Gentlemen,

My 87' 175 Johnson is providing a nice shock when my hands are damp on my stainless steering wheel. Obviously a short somewhere. Any feedback on what may be causing the problem? She was cutting out a little last time out and the carbs have recently been redone so I'm leaning toward electrical. I haven't run her at night yet to check fo a arc. The neighbors will love that :)

TIA,

Maury

I was having odd readings on my gauges and a little zap when the floor was wet, it turned out to be the end of the steering cable where it exited the column was rubbing the hot wire on the back of the ignition.

Kurt

[bsteckel]

also had a friend this happened to ... was the ignition switch shorting out.

[reelapeelin]

Originally Posted by bsteckel

also had a friend this happened to ... was the ignition switch shorting out.

Damn...now that makes sense...

[UBHSTRY]

I have had that happen with cars, with a wire arcing onto the engine, and nailing me thru the damn break pedal...lol