Hello everyone! I have been lurking around this site for the last year and learning everything I can while working on my first boat 89' bayliner with 5.7 and OMC drive. I have learned alot, and honestly believe that many on here are very knowledgeable about boats. Now for my problem...
I went out two weeks ago and the boat was running fine for about 20min, then all of a sudden the engine free reved, and the boat competely stopped. I shut her down as the engine started reving high. Let the motor cool down and started her back up after visual inspection. Boat would not shift into forward or reverse. Had it towed back to the marina, and trailered her back home. Tried to put her in gear with the engine off and turn the prop, but it spins like its in neutral. The shifter was always very hard when shifting and figured my lower cable was bad or needed adjusting. Today I decided to remove the outdrive to inspect the transom cable. Everything looked really good, still had fresh grease from when the previous owner had overhauled the drive. Also it shifted very easily after I removed the drive. I tried shifting it using the shifter rod, but it only moves about half an inch. Seems like its a bit stuck. Could this be my problem? Also I checked the gear oil level and it was low. Then after a bit more research I realized that my uncle who owns a mercruiser helped me change my lower gear oil. We filled it from the bottom, big mistake from what I read. I removed the dip stick cover and the gears have no oil and some metal shavings. They have grease and they don't look so bad, but I also don't have a good set to reference to see how bad they really are. When I turn the u joint shaft the bearing spins, but doesn't make contact with the lower bearing. When I turn the prop the lower bearing spins, but doesnt make contact with the shaft bearing. Are they suppose to spin together even in neutral? Is the shifter rod suppose to be so stiff? Need to know if this is something I can fix or do I need to rebuild the whole drive. Please help, Thanks.
I went out two weeks ago and the boat was running fine for about 20min, then all of a sudden the engine free reved, and the boat competely stopped. I shut her down as the engine started reving high. Let the motor cool down and started her back up after visual inspection. Boat would not shift into forward or reverse. Had it towed back to the marina, and trailered her back home. Tried to put her in gear with the engine off and turn the prop, but it spins like its in neutral. The shifter was always very hard when shifting and figured my lower cable was bad or needed adjusting. Today I decided to remove the outdrive to inspect the transom cable. Everything looked really good, still had fresh grease from when the previous owner had overhauled the drive. Also it shifted very easily after I removed the drive. I tried shifting it using the shifter rod, but it only moves about half an inch. Seems like its a bit stuck. Could this be my problem? Also I checked the gear oil level and it was low. Then after a bit more research I realized that my uncle who owns a mercruiser helped me change my lower gear oil. We filled it from the bottom, big mistake from what I read. I removed the dip stick cover and the gears have no oil and some metal shavings. They have grease and they don't look so bad, but I also don't have a good set to reference to see how bad they really are. When I turn the u joint shaft the bearing spins, but doesn't make contact with the lower bearing. When I turn the prop the lower bearing spins, but doesnt make contact with the shaft bearing. Are they suppose to spin together even in neutral? Is the shifter rod suppose to be so stiff? Need to know if this is something I can fix or do I need to rebuild the whole drive. Please help, Thanks.
. Hopefully the used outdrive I'm going to see is in good shape and I can get back out on the water.
