1987 Scarab III need some help!!

[Rhino Rob]

I have recently purchased a well maintained seldom used 34' Scarab III that was re-powered in 2001 with twin fuel injected 502 Mercruisers and the alpha 1 drives rebuilt, my problem is that the starboard drive is somehow stuck in reverse whether you push the throttle forward or backward it will rev either way just in reverse only. Do I have a linkage problem and if so do I look at the controller end first or should I be looking at the drives. Any help would be great.

 

[Nova II 260]

Re: 1987 Scarab III need some help!!

Welcome aboard the best bad habit forum with the finest bunch of boat junkies on the web.
You'll need a manual(s), get 'em, meanwhile this may help you find the problem:
shift cable

 

[Rhino Rob]

Re: 1987 Scarab III need some help!!

Thank you for the help, not sure if I want to tackle this one by myself however, I will try to.
Do you think that maybe it is just the adjustment at the controller that is the problem because of the age of the boat? The link you sent me mentioned a barrel adjustment at the top side controller??
If not than I do have a person in mind that is a certified Mercruiser Tech. I will defenitly get the manual, just thought that maybe you had heard of something like this before, the boat was fine the day before, then I took it out and the same engine would only rev to 2500 rpm so I took it home, cleaned out the water -fuel separator and presto that fixed that, took it out that afternoon with my wife and the damn thing would only rev in neutral so I brought it back to the dock and that is where it got stuck in reverse when I started to load it on the trailer, even when I pushed it into the forward position it was still in reverse and fully engaged and had full power.

Have ever heard of anything like that?

Thank you again.
Robert

 

[valkyr]

Re: 1987 Scarab III need some help!!

You'll probably want to post this in the Mercruiser forum in the top half of forums.iboats.com