Outdrive not engaging

[studders]

God afternoon to all. I have a 1989 Baja islander 190 mercruiser 3.0. I was at the lake yesterday doing a test run and was going fine. Everything seemed to be in order other than making some small adjustments to my cables. All of sudden the engine just reved up and then we cane to a stop. At first I thought maybe I lost my prop or something got wrapped around it. When I try to put it in gear it doesn’t engage and all it does is rev up. All the fluids are good. Got towed back to the dock and got it out of the water. With the engine off I put it in forward motion and the prop does go in forward but not does lock up going the other wat so it seems like it’s engaging somewhat. However it still spun freely when I put it in reverse with the engine off but does make some funny clicking sounds like it’s in the border of trying to engage. I’m at a loss right and any help would be greatly appreciated on what to look for or look at. Thanks

 

[Bondo]

All of sudden the engine just reved up and then we cane to a stop.

Ayuh,.... Was there any rubber smell,..??

There's 3 places that could be the problem,......

The rubber splined coupler on the back of the motor,.....

The prop hub is blown out,......

Or, the top of the lower unit shaft sheared off at the o-ring groove,.....

 

[Scott Danforth]

4th place, upper gears could be gone

to test for prop hub, use a sharpie and make a line across the prop and prop nut and put it in gear in the water. then check, if the line is still intact, its not the prop hub

when was the last time the drive was serviced? the alignment checked?

 

[Bt Doctur]

Check the drive oil for level and condition first
Shift into fwd gear, watch the shaft at the rear of the motor . Have someone stand on the prop trying to turn it CCW
After prop hub is checked per Scott stand on the prop blade pushing CCW Prop moves ,shaft doesnt .indicates a drive problem
lower drive shaft, melted gears from lack of oil

 

[studders]

Thanks for the replies. I did check the oil the other day. It’s nice and clean and full. Was some metal deposits on the drain screw. More than usually. Had some wet weather the past couple of days so I covered it up and haven’t really had a chance to look at anything else. Should be able to look at it prob on Tuesday. I have a feeling I’ll prob have to end up taking it off and seeing if something is broke. Before I do that though I’ll check the coupler from the motor to the drive first. Anyone have a pic of what it is suppose to look like with the couple on. I did check that the other day and did look like it wasn’t right as I could see the splines from the motor to the drive. I’m not sure if I’m supposed to see the splines if the coupler is on or if that might be what it is because it has broke off.

 

[Bt Doctur]

you might see about a 1/2 inch of spline .no more

 

[studders]

The only update I have is that the motor coupling is fine. With the engine on the outdrive is spinning fine. So what m assuming my problem is in the outdrive itself. Maybe busted ujoint or something.

 

[QBhoy]

I’ll chip in with the prop hub doing its sacrificial not and being to blame ? Hope you get it sorted.

 

[Scott Danforth]

The only update I have is that the motor coupling is fine. With the engine on the outdrive is spinning fine. So what m assuming my problem is in the outdrive itself. Maybe busted ujoint or something.

Only way to verify the coupling is to pull the motor to look with your eyes. They will still turn the shaft a bit, however if the splined hub let loose from the rest of the rubber coupler, only way to verify is to look

 

[Luv2fish36]

You say you were adjusting cables, Do you know how to adjust these cables properly? When you say its revving up on you uncontrollably that sounds like a bad/stiff remote throttle cable or one that's adjusted wrong. As for the shift cables you may have those adjusted way out of bounds or you have bad cables there as well. Also if your idle was sky high (They like to idle around 700rpms) and your shifting with it at high rpms that is very hard on the clutch and could do damage and it could be bad. At that point you'd be shopping for a new lower unit. I would also look at the coupler as the 3.0's are hard on them (harmonics).

 

[studders]

You say you were adjusting cables, Do you know how to adjust these cables properly? When you say its revving up on you uncontrollably that sounds like a bad/stiff remote throttle cable or one that's adjusted wrong. As for the shift cables you may have those adjusted way out of bounds or you have bad cables there as well. Also if your idle was sky high (They like to idle around 700rpms) and your shifting with it at high rpms that is very hard on the clutch and could do damage and it could be bad. At that point you'd be shopping for a new lower unit. I would also look at the coupler as the 3.0's are hard on them (harmonics).

Lol yes and no. I thought I did. Seemed to be working fine with my old cables. I am at the end of trying to adjust them. They are new cables along with a new shifter. I had them adjusted ad close as I could out of water and was going to make adjustments when I got to the lake but didn’t make it that far. They are out of whack and do need adjusted right. Do you have a directions list on how to adjust them? It seems to be running at low Rpms. It starts up and idles just fine. Prob about 800-850. Also it’s not recent uncontrollably. It just revs when I try and put it in gear and start pushing the handle down. It’s like it has the throttle only button pushed in.

 

[nola mike]

OK, I'm confused now. Is the outdrive going into gear (clunk)? First think I'd do is disconnect the lower shift cable and shift directly, take that out of the equation. Try it out of the water first, and make sure that the prop locks in both directions. Next, pop the top off the outdrive (4 12 pt bolts). If your gears are gone, it will be obvious. If the prop locked with the shift cable disconnected but not connected, you might be lucky and have a shift cable problem. Otherwise, you still don't know what your problem is--you haven't ruled out the coupler or the prop hub yet, both can move the boat a bit under a light load when damaged. Coupler you can tell if you look at the back of the engine at the input shaft. If you rev the engine, a bad coupler won't increase the speed of the input shaft. Prop hub check per Scott Danforth 's instructions. For cable adjustment, look at achris 's signature, he has a good video.

 

[nola mike]

Actually, rereading your OP--if the engine started revving while already moving, unlikely to be a shift cable. They don't want to come out of gear when the RPMs are up.

 

[studders]

Actually, rereading your OP--if the engine started revving while already moving, unlikely to be a shift cable. They don't want to come out of gear when the RPMs are up.

So I took the top of the outdrive off and it’s a mess in there. I guess the gears are gone as to what someone on here said to do and it would be obvious. So a couple questions. How or what caused this? What am I looking at roughly dollar amount (low end to high end) to have fixed?

 

[Bondo]

So I took the top of the outdrive off and it’s a mess in there. I guess the gears are gone as to what someone on here said to do and it would be obvious. So a couple questions. How or what caused this? What am I looking at roughly dollar amount (low end to high end) to have fixed?

Ayuh,...... Low on oil,.....

'bout $1500.00 for a new SEI aftermarket drive,......

 

[studders]

Ayuh,...... Low on oil,.....

'bout $1500.00 for a new SEI aftermarket drive,......

Could this be rebuilt or just as much as a new/used one? I have a Manual on it and between me and a buddy who knows what he’s doing could rebuild if the parts are available. Thoughts on that

 

[Scott Danforth]

It will cost you almost as much to rebuild your drive (with all the special tools) as it would to buy a new SEI drive with a 3 year warranty

 

[studders]

It will cost you almost as much to rebuild your drive (with all the special tools) as it would to buy a new SEI drive with a 3 year warranty

Thanks for the information.

 

[nola mike]

And of course, if you want to roll the dice, the Alpha's are a dime a dozen on CL. A little pricier at this time of year, but in my neck of the woods could still get one for <$300 easy.

 

[studders]

Could I just get a upper unit or would I need to get both. Lower and upper.