I have a ski boat with a 2005 Volvo Penta 4.3L. Yesterday on the water the shifter was noticably loose. It jiggled left and right as well as front to back, both a lot more than normal.
After a few hours, the engine would not crank. I checked to make sure the shifter was in neutral, and it still would not crank.
I pulled the trim piece on the shifter revealing the fasteners inside. Contrary to other discussions I have seen on here regarding other brands, there did not appear to be a simple opening for an allen wrench. Instead it appears to be held in by a nut.
Anyway, I loosened the nut with a pair of needle nose pliers and took the shifter off. It looked like there was a gear inside the plastic shifter that linked up in with a throttle gear inside the shifter housing.
I put everthing back together, and again the boat would not start. I then began putting the shifter into different positions and tried to start the engine with the shifter in different positions.
Finally, when the shifter was in 2/3 reverse position, the engine started. After some playing around, it was pretty clear that I had assembled my plastic shifter out of whack with the trottle. 2/3 reverse on the shifter was actually neutral, neutral on the shifter was actually 1/4 forward, and 1/2 forward was WOT.
I limped the boat back to the dock and trailered it. It was a little tricky manuvering it since it was not easy to determine when the boat was actually in gear.
Here is my question. I obviously need to readjust the shifter to match the throttle. Is that something I can do myself or do I need to take it to a shop? Any recommendations on how to go about this?
My thought was to put the boat back in the water, and then expeirment by taking the shifter off, putting it back on at about 2/3 reverse, putting the shifter in neutral, and then seeing if it would crank. If not, find what position it would crank in, readjust the shifter accordingly, and try again.
Is there any more exact way to go about this? In case it is relevant, I had the idle readjusted by a shop about a month ago and they might have failed to tighten the nut, thus leading to this problem.
Thanks in advance for the help!
After a few hours, the engine would not crank. I checked to make sure the shifter was in neutral, and it still would not crank.
I pulled the trim piece on the shifter revealing the fasteners inside. Contrary to other discussions I have seen on here regarding other brands, there did not appear to be a simple opening for an allen wrench. Instead it appears to be held in by a nut.
Anyway, I loosened the nut with a pair of needle nose pliers and took the shifter off. It looked like there was a gear inside the plastic shifter that linked up in with a throttle gear inside the shifter housing.
I put everthing back together, and again the boat would not start. I then began putting the shifter into different positions and tried to start the engine with the shifter in different positions.
Finally, when the shifter was in 2/3 reverse position, the engine started. After some playing around, it was pretty clear that I had assembled my plastic shifter out of whack with the trottle. 2/3 reverse on the shifter was actually neutral, neutral on the shifter was actually 1/4 forward, and 1/2 forward was WOT.
I limped the boat back to the dock and trailered it. It was a little tricky manuvering it since it was not easy to determine when the boat was actually in gear.
Here is my question. I obviously need to readjust the shifter to match the throttle. Is that something I can do myself or do I need to take it to a shop? Any recommendations on how to go about this?
My thought was to put the boat back in the water, and then expeirment by taking the shifter off, putting it back on at about 2/3 reverse, putting the shifter in neutral, and then seeing if it would crank. If not, find what position it would crank in, readjust the shifter accordingly, and try again.
Is there any more exact way to go about this? In case it is relevant, I had the idle readjusted by a shop about a month ago and they might have failed to tighten the nut, thus leading to this problem.
Thanks in advance for the help!
