New to me 1988 Ranger 390V (??? on trolling motor plug)

[gotafish10]

Found a home for the 1995 Champion 181. Gentleman came all the way from Ontario Canada to Florida for the boat. But it was very nice.
I just had issues getting up and between the consoles due to my disabilities.

This week I picked up a very nice 1988 Ranger 390V with 1989 ProV 150. Had good compression bottom 4 100-105 PSI - top 2 110 PSI.
Lake tested and it surprised me with the 150 hp as I was thinking it might not have good hole shot. But it works fine. Seems my need for
speed these days has left me.

Boat came with couple flashers, neither of them worked. Dash switch on Lowrance 1240 was not functioning and the 1255 didnt work either.
But I am going to direct wire the flasher past switch to see if it will come on and if so, snag the switch from the 1255 and put it in dash.
I am installing two Hook 7's for electronics. Fishing 15' or less, these will do fine.

I do have a slight issue with trolling motor plug, maybe someone will chime in. Its nothing I cant easily replace, but if its something simple
I can use the $60 somewhere else.
(Issue is that with Ranger 4 pin plug inserted in female receptacle the trolling motor does not come on with button depressed. Pushing down
or lifting up on male plug the trolling motor works perfectly. Nothing is corroded to include wiring behind plug in bow. Any thoughts would
be greatly appreciated.

[larryhyco]

My guess is a loose wire in one of the plugs (female or male) I would take both apart and trim and strip the wires and reinstall. While disassembled I'd clean everything with WD-40 or something.

[Rip Bass]

Might be a loose wire but it sounds like the female plug is worn,not making contact with the prongs. Try spreading the male prongs a little,might get you by for a while but if there's not a good connection it will eventually start arcing and burn the contacts.I fish brackish water and never had much luck with plugs so I've been hard wiring mine for several years. You can do that if you have a battery switch for the TM in the bilge.

[gotafish10]

My guess is a loose wire in one of the plugs (female or male) I would take both apart and trim and strip the wires and reinstall. While disassembled I'd clean everything with WD-40 or something.

Might be a loose wire but it sounds like the female plug is worn,not making contact with the prongs. Try spreading the male prongs a little,might get you by for a while but if there's not a good connection it will eventually start arcing and burn the contacts.I fish brackish water and never had much luck with plugs so I've been hard wiring mine for several years. You can do that if you have a battery switch for the TM in the bilge.

I will give this a try. I did check the wires on the back of the female plug and they seem tight. Will disassemble the male plug and check those wires. The plug is the original Ranger style plug with the solid pins, so there is no way to spread them. I will look closer at the female plug and see if I can make the pin fit better.
Thank you both for your input.

[Jeff Hahn]

I had a 1991 Ranger 390 with a GT 150 and the boat performed fine with a 150 outboard. You'll love the boat.

[gotafish10]

Well, I replaced the female connection and TM works fine now. So that must have been the problem.

Having a bit of an issue with the fuel gauge now. Can someone verify the port and starboard tank size as 26 gallons each?

[Backlash Ar]

http://www.bassboatcentral.com/rangerspecs.htm