Can't Shift into Neutral

[Geiber]

I have a 1994 Four Winns with a Volvo Engine and OMC drive. Last fall the boat was not shifting into Neutral from forward or reverse without turning off the engine. I took it in to a local repair place and they told me the shift cable was stretched out. They adjusted it so it was working and advised that it be replaced over the winter. We had the work done, which was a long and frustrating story, but in the end it was not shifting into neutral again. They explained that it also needed a Shift assist / interrupter switch. At that point (9 months later)I had lost confidence it them, so I took the boat back. I looked into a couple other places in my area with better reputations and was told I would need to leave the boat for two to three weeks before they could look at it since they were so busy. So I am considering doing the repair myself. How difficult would replacing the shift assist /interrupter switch on that boat be for someone with not a lot of experience working on boats?
CG

 

[95yj]

Re: Can't Shift into Neutral

Surprised no one answered this yet, so I'll take a crack. Don't know OMC drives, but on the Mercs, it's just a switch mounted to one of the exhaust risers where your remote control shift and throttle cables all come together. The switch "kills" the motor for an instant to make it easier to pull it out of gear. Replacing it is as easy as disconnecting a couple wires and unbolting the old switch. I would think this would be very similar for an OMC. You should be able to find the switch and take a look yourself. Use an ohm meter and test the switch, maybe it just needs adjusting.

 

[cburchfiel]

Re: Can't Shift into Neutral

this is one thing to check, sounds more like the ESA Modual for OMC seams to be the problem most talked about.

We had the same problem and were told by our mechanic that if all cables are adjusted more than likly it will be the modual.


Good luck hope you find a fix.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Can't Shift into Neutral

Your 94 OMC should not have an ESA. That is the year OMC and Volvo went into their joint venture. Your drive has cone clutches so no interrupt switch needed.

Just to be sure, take of the back cover of your drive and see if it looks like this inside:

You shouls take off the cable where it attatched to this linkage and put your control into neutral position . Once you do this, make sure the drive is in the neutral position. The adjust the cable so that it goes back into its hole. That will set your neutral.

If you control is old and has a lot of slop to it(lost motion), this could also be your problem