New to Evinrudes; No Neutral?

[stingraze]

Hello Everyone! I am new to this forum and to Evinrudes. I recently purchased a 13 whaler with a 1996 30hp pull start Evinrude. Everything checked out during the purchase as far as I could tell, but when I went to take my boys out for a creek cruise, I had trouble. The boat seems to shift from forward to reverse, without stopping at neutral in between.
I took the cowling off and could tell where it was supposed to stop at neutral, but it was passing it everytime. I should note that the forward/neutral/reverse level is on the outside of the engine with cable running to the helm. Can anyone advise as to what is going on here? Thank you in advance!

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: New to Evinrudes; No Neutral?

sounds like the shift linkage is misadjusted. has someone had the lower unit off to change the impeller? not familar with that particular linkage..

 

[stingraze]

Re: New to Evinrudes; No Neutral?

Thank you for the quick response! The gentleman that I purchased from claimed that the water pump was replaced the week prior. In searching other posts on this subject on iboats, I noticed where it was advised to remove spark plugs, drop the foot, align the shaft grooves, etc. to remedy. Are these the steps that I should follow as well? I am somewhat mechanically inclined in the sense that I can follow instructions, as long as there are no surprises.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: New to Evinrudes; No Neutral?

i honestly, don't know, if it was a 50's-70's no problem. you can go to this site, i saw a linkage connector, but i can't give you advise i'm unsure of. clik engine diagram, and follow prompts to your engine.
http://www.evinrude.com/en-US/Accessories/Literature/

 

[wbeaton]

Re: New to Evinrudes; No Neutral?

Changing the impeller should have made no difference to the operation of the shifter. Can you hold the shifter in the neutral position or do you just not have neutral at all? At what position is the shift handle in when you set it to forward or reverse?

 

[stingraze]

Re: New to Evinrudes; No Neutral?

Thank you for the replies. The motor appears to have not neutral on the shift lever at all. It jumps straight from the forward position to the reverse position, without stopping in the middle (neutral). Once I took the cowling off, I could visually see where it needed to be for neutral and I stopped it there so I could crank the motor. Once I put it in forward gear, it would not go back into neutral, only reverse. Sorry for the use of non-technical terms, but hopefully it is making sense somewhat.

michael