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I have a 1994 johnson 88SPL. With the key off there is no voltage at the primer solenoid. When the key is on there is 12 volts at the solenoid no matter if the "choke" button is pushed or not. I ohmed the switch and then replaced it and still the same. What am I missing? Do I have a short to 12 volts after the switch? Is there some kind of warm up sensor which keeps the primer on? The motor has always been hard to start, so for now I have the primer disconnected and I do it by hand with the manual primer valve.
Even with that it's hard to start.

Any thoughts would be helpfull
Steve

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The primer valves should ONLY have 12 volts at the purple/white wire when the "choke" switch is activated. It is the purple/ white wire coming off the key switch and it can be checked using a meter or a test light.

Sometimes people mix up the purple and the purple/white on the keyswitch which would give the same symptoms that you are describing. Of course, someone could also have "jury rigged" the boat or motor's wiring harness to do the same thing.

With power on the primer solenoid for such a long time, my guess is the primer has burned out and will not activate. Do a resistance check and/or remove one hose from it, squeeze the primer bulb hard, then activate it to see if fuel is discharged. Hope it works 'cause it ain't cheap.

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Thanks Seahorse, your insight was very helpfull,
It looks like I have an open purple/white somewhere and at the same time it's shorted to the purple wire. Must be in the tunnel because I don't see any problem with the cable as it goes from the console back to the motor. I think I'll just replace it-maybe in the fall.
Steve

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Anybody been running screws into or near the tunnel area while rigging something?

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No, nothing has been done lately. It looks like the cable just gave out.
I'll keep using it for another month or so, priming manually, then I'll take it out and find out what happened.