OMC cobra will not shift into forward or reverse

[Dandezinna33]

Hey everyone

I have a 1990 sunbird Corsica 175 with a 3.0L OMC and OMC Cobra outdrive. When I go to shift into forward/rev engine just revs, there’s no clunk at all. I don’t have a lot of experience with I/O stuff or OMC but I’m pretty mechanical. Does anyone have advice as to where the best place to start would be!? Like shift cable and work my way down!? Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks everyone!

Dan

 

[KM7]

Safety first. Ignition OFF, key OUT and just to be sure pull the coil output off the top of the distributor ground it. Be sure there is no fuel around. There is a very small chance it will spark and at one point you, or a helper will be touching the prop.

Start by disconnecting the shift cable from the transom bracket. That is the one that goes down to the outdrive. See if it will shift by hand. Don't force it. Start by pulling on the cable to go into forward. Have a helper spin the prop in reverse slowly, That should help it drop into gear. If you can't shift manually you may have to remove the outdrive and see whats going on.

Next try back to neutral. Try reverse by pushing on the cable. Be careful. Pushing on a cable can kink it. It should move easily. Have your assistant slowly rotate the prop forward to help it drop into gear.
Now go back to forward gear by pulling.

If you can get your OD to shift manually that is the first step.

Next move the throttle lever into fwd, neutral and reverse. You should get the corresponding motion at the transom bracket. It will move the lever that connects to the shift cable. If all that is working it is a matter of adjusting it to get the proper motion of the cable to get the gears to engage and disengage properly.

When did this start? Did it work before?

 

[Dandezinna33]

kipmc7 thank you so much for the advice! I ended up spending a Saturday messing around with everything. The boat was sitting for 2 years prior to me getting it. The first think I did was pulled The throttle lever out and checked the connections there. It turns out the lever was stuck and kept popping the control into neutral. So I cleaned and lubed everything and got the shift cable to work great. Then I ran it and attempted to put it in gear and it went in forward and reverse but was grinding a little when trying to engage into gear. When shifting into gear it seems like the gears aren’t engaging fully so i have to do some more rigging. I wish I had a manual with a section on the rigging of the Shift cable.

 

[KM7]

You really should get an OMC manual. They are available for purchase online. Paying for them is the right thing to do.

There are other manuals Seloc and Clymer but the OMC is the best. I just bought myself another one from Ebay.

This MAY be yours:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1990-OMC-C...617496?hash=item23d82bff98:g:Jq0AAOSwtbBez9mg

 

[Dandezinna33]

kipmc7

thank you sir!! I will definitely pick that up ASAP! I have a manual for it now but it’s not very clear on rigging of controls. I will try this manual! Thank you

 

[Dandezinna33]

kipmc7 I have the clymers manual.