cant shift out of gear, please help (update 5/28)

N

nailem

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on land i did the cable adjustment as per the oem manual. everything seem to work find, lock in both gears. put on the muffs and was able to shift from forward to reverse. i just got back from the lake and it will not go gear to neutral from both forward or reverse.

from reading this sounds like the interrupt switch. before the adjustment i check with a meter and it switch worked.

i guess my question is: what could be out of adjustment? i thought i did the adjustment right. what should i adjust? the shift (upper) cable the front plastic piece is all the way back (no threads showing) and the back plastic barrel of the upper cable is about 5 turns out. the drive cable is adjusted to the 6" hole to hole. is there an adjustment that i should make at by the shifter?

how should the interrupt switch act? when shifting from neutral to forward should it rotate out of the pocket for a second and then back in to the pocket?

thank in advance
 
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C

Coors

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Re: cant shift out of gear, please help

Re: cant shift out of gear, please help

The 6" adjustment, sounds like he has that dreaded OMC. 5 and 7/8" works better, but he needs to tell everyone what he is talking about.
 
N

nailem

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Re: cant shift out of gear, please help

Re: cant shift out of gear, please help

sorry, i have a 1986 mercruser with alpha 1 drive.
 
Don S

Don S

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Re: cant shift out of gear, please help

Re: cant shift out of gear, please help

Are you using the OEM manual, or one of the aftermarket manuals?
 
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nailem

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Re: cant shift out of gear, please help

Re: cant shift out of gear, please help

Oem
 
Don S

Don S

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Re: cant shift out of gear, please help

Re: cant shift out of gear, please help

When the engine is running, go to the engine and activate the shift interrupt switch. Does it kill the engine?
 
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nailem

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Re: cant shift out of gear, please help

Re: cant shift out of gear, please help

before adjustment yes it did. i did not check after i stared having this problem. this i will have to check tomorrow, thank you for your time tonight i will post back with an update
 
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nailem

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Re: cant shift out of gear, please help

Re: cant shift out of gear, please help

good morning. ok, tested switch using my finger this morning and it does kill the engine. i then pulled the brass barrel out of its seat on the drive cable and operated the shift cut out lever up and down by hand and at its highest and lowest points it did not press the switch lever in far enough to kill the engine. real close but not enough. does this mean someone bent it at on time? should i be able to kill the engine by doing this?
 
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nailem

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Re: cant shift out of gear, please help

Re: cant shift out of gear, please help

i forgot to mention that when trying to shift from gear to neutral the control lever would click into the neutral spot and drive would stay in gear. then i had to "jerk" the control lever back and forth to get it to pop out of gear. not sure if that helps any
 
Don S

Don S

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Re: cant shift out of gear, please help

Re: cant shift out of gear, please help

You may have a bad shift cable, and a previous owner may have bent the switch to prevent the engine from dieing when being pulled out of gear. I see it all the time. You can try adjusting the switch arm back to where it's supposed to be. It should engage the switch between 1/2 and 3/4 up the ramp of the bracket the roller is on.
 
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rodbolt

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Re: cant shift out of gear, please help

Re: cant shift out of gear, please help

either your switch arm got bent, people do it all the time, or the adjustment for the cable is off, my bet is on the switch arm.
if the OEM manul is followed step by step its rare to have an issue.
 
N

nailem

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Re: cant shift out of gear, please help

Re: cant shift out of gear, please help

thanks guys. i did follow the OEM manual to the T no skipped steps, check and rechecked that i did it correctly. i will try to bend the switch arm back and post back my resaults. i will have to readjust the cables since i tried a buch of different adjustment while on the lake.

does my adjustment of the shift cable sound right? as stated in my first post the forward adjustment has no threads showing and the back plastic barel is out about five turns i think.
 
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nailem

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Re: cant shift out of gear, please help

Re: cant shift out of gear, please help

i bent the tab a little and it seems to be activating now. i also went back through the cable adjustment procedure. and it did change slightly form the last time i did it.

one question on the procedure. it says in step #5 to make sure the "shift lever adjustable stud" must be in the bottom of the slot. if not loosen stud and move it to the bottom of slot and re-tighten stud"

after the procedure should this be able to slide up and down in the slot or should it be tightened down so it always remains in the bottom of the slot? mine does not slide, it is locked into the bottom of slot.
 
B

bigbrownbuku

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Re: cant shift out of gear, please help

Re: cant shift out of gear, please help

it should be tight, its only there to account for cable slack as it gets older and stretched.
 
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nailem

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Re: cant shift out of gear, please help

Re: cant shift out of gear, please help

thanks, looks like im ready for another water test but they are calling for rain today. i will post my results when i get a chance.
 
N

nailem

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Re: cant shift out of gear, please help (update 5/28)

took the boat out today. i left it strapped to the trailer and it shifted fine. no problems shifted smooth from neutral to drive, drive to neutral, and reverse. nice and smooth with just a slight kill of the motor. after about 2hrs of cruising and testing i returned to dock the boat and it stalled going into reverse. then i stared having problems in both gears. not consistent and mostly reverse. when put into reverse the shift assemble would shift down (switch roller going to top of V) and would not drop back to the center. if given a small tap it would drop in to the center. i thought it should only rock up or down when going from gear to neutral.

my question is what adjustment needs to be made and why was it ok then not?
im close just need a little more help.

i also have a rough idle but will start a new thread for that one.
 
L

Limited-Time

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Re: cant shift out of gear, please help (update 5/28)

Sounds like the lower shift cable may be bad. That would enplane the intermittent function after the adjustment.
 
N

nailem

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Re: cant shift out of gear, please help (update 5/28)

maybe but the cable felt ok when operating by hand, easy to slide in and out and no sticky points.
 
L

Limited-Time

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Re: cant shift out of gear, please help (update 5/28)

It has more to do with ease of movement. It can be smooth but still require to much force to function correctly.
 
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