Need some shifter assistance please....

[thrttlebkhtrod]

I have a mercruiser 898 that i upgraded myself to a 350 block. Anyway, before i did the replacement the forward/neutral/reverse worked perfect. All i did was remove the plate with the cables going to it and moved it to the side. Now its hard to get into neutral. If i shut it down and turn it back on i can get it into gear fine. I tried adjusting the cable a tad but, it didnt seem to help. The motor is idling around 900 or so, is that to high? I asked the marina to look at it this week because ive been busy with work and of course the didnt.. Its a pre-alpha system. The cable moves freely with no issue... I feel it has to be an adjustment.. Thanks guys

 

[HT32BSX115]

Re: Need some shifter assistance please....

I have a mercruiser 898 that i upgraded myself to a 350 block. Anyway, before i did the replacement the forward/neutral/reverse worked perfect. All i did was remove the plate with the cables going to it and moved it to the side. Now its hard to get into neutral. If i shut it down and turn it back on i can get it into gear fine. I tried adjusting the cable a tad but, it didnt seem to help. The motor is idling around 900 or so, is that to high? I asked the marina to look at it this week because ive been busy with work and of course the didnt.. Its a pre-alpha system. The cable moves freely with no issue... I feel it has to be an adjustment.. Thanks guys

Howdy,

900 is way too high. It should be around 600-650 0r so. Idling too high will eventually damage the clutch dogs.

Essentially, you disconnect the throttle cable/linkage from the carburetor. THEN you adjust the idle/mixture etc. THEN reconnect the cable (adjusting as required to reconnect the cable so it doesn't move the throttle above idle when connected in neutral.)

 

[thrttlebkhtrod]

Re: Need some shifter assistance please....

I will do that thank you.. Ive only used the boat twice since i did the motor. Btw the shift interupt is working fine (i forgot to mention). So the idle being to high, will that cause it not to shift properly into neutral/forward/reverse? also i have a manual choke, so should i set the idle warm or right away?

 

[Josh P]

Re: Need some shifter assistance please....

idle gets set warm while in gear. which it has to be in the water to do, need the load on the prop

 

[thrttlebkhtrod]

Re: Need some shifter assistance please....

Got the idle set pretty good, still having an issue with getting into neutral. If i pull back really fast on the shifter i can get it to go into neutral. The mechanic at my marina said there is a higher tension spring that can go on the bracket for the shift interupt. I think i might try that tomorrow. Anyone else have some input?

 

[Don S]

Re: Need some shifter assistance please....

Got the idle set pretty good, still having an issue with getting into neutral.

What is your idle rpm?

The mechanic at my marina said there is a higher tension spring that can go on the bracket for the shift interupt.

That is your mechanics way of saying he doesn't have a clue what the problem is.


Sounds like your shift interrupt switch isn't working. With the engine running, activate the shift interrupt switch by hand and see if the engine dies. It should.
When you moved your shift plate, did any wires come loose?

 

[thrttlebkhtrod]

Re: Need some shifter assistance please....

What is your idle rpm?




That is your mechanics way of saying he doesn't have a clue what the problem is.




Sounds like your shift interrupt switch isn't working. With the engine running, activate the shift interrupt switch by hand and see if the engine dies. It should.
When you moved your shift plate, did any wires come loose?

I got the idle around 650-700..

Nothing is loose at all. If i move the bracket back and forth it does kill the engine. Its definately weird, if i move the shifter slowly back to the "12 o clock" postion it wont pop all the way back in unless i shut the engine down..There is 2 cables on the shift bracket, a red and black. The black is my shifter, but is the red the neutral? does that need to be adjusted at all??
And the mechanic, i justed asked him about it. He doesnt work on the boat lol....

 

[achris]

Re: Need some shifter assistance please....

As Don, I suspect the shift switch is not working... Do the test Don said. Trip the switch and see if it kills the engine....

That 'mechanic' knows jack... There is only one spring for the back of the cam... and if the switch is not working, then something else is the problem...

Chris........

 

[thrttlebkhtrod]

Re: Need some shifter assistance please....

The neutral safety switch IS working. Could the spring loose tension over time? the set-up is from 1980.. Is there adjustment on the shifter side im missing?

 

[Don S]

Re: Need some shifter assistance please....

It could also be the shift cable from the control to the engine is binding and making it hard to shift.

 

[thrttlebkhtrod]

Re: Need some shifter assistance please....

Thanks for the reply guys.. I think i got it, the switch was working if i moved it, But if i moved the bracket it wouldnt activate the switch. I fixed that and were getting ready to go out. So ill update later. Thanks again guys!

 

[thrttlebkhtrod]

Re: Need some shifter assistance please....

All is good, it seems alittle tight tword the top, but is goes into neutral now, then into reverse. I might try to adjust the cables back to the way they were before i had the issue.