Shift Problems

gresh1003

Cadet
Joined
Aug 2, 2009
Messages
8
I had a problem today on the water. I had the throttle in foward and tried to go to neutral and it wouldnt go. It was really hard to shift, so I then shut the motor down and tried. It went right in, so then I cranked it back up and the idle was extremely high and when I tried to go to fwd or rev it would go in but really hard shift. Does anyone have any imput on where to start. Thanks
Bobby
 

gresh1003

Cadet
Joined
Aug 2, 2009
Messages
8
Re: Shift Problems

Checked connections and ran out of water and worked ok from neu. to fwd and back, but really stiff from neu. to rev. All connections looked ok.
 

Chris1956

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Mar 25, 2004
Messages
28,099
Re: Shift Problems

Idle is probably set too high. Motors can be difficult to shift if the idle is too high.

What year and HP motor?
 

gresh1003

Cadet
Joined
Aug 2, 2009
Messages
8
Re: Shift Problems

It is a 2002 Mercury 60 fourstroke EFI. It was running just fine then after 3 times out it started messing up. So unless the idle can change I dont think it could be that.
 

westexasrepublic

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Jun 17, 2009
Messages
524
Re: Shift Problems

leave your boat on the trailer with the transom saver on and try shifting forward and reverse, let me know what happens.
 

gresh1003

Cadet
Joined
Aug 2, 2009
Messages
8
Re: Shift Problems

I will check that soon but if I remember right it is ok going from neu to fwd, but really hard to go to rev when motor is off.
 

NMBuzz

Seaman Apprentice
Joined
Jul 12, 2009
Messages
40
Re: Shift Problems

Idle is probably set too high. Motors can be difficult to shift if the idle is too high.

What year and HP motor?

I have adjusted my shift cables step for step by the "sticky manual" and my Mercruiser instructions, but there is still a minor grinding when engaging either fwd or rev.

Should there be any "clunk" or small amount of gear meshing (OK grinding) when shifting to fwd and reverse?
 

NMBuzz

Seaman Apprentice
Joined
Jul 12, 2009
Messages
40
Re: Shift Problems

What exactly is the shift cutout switch suppose to do, and when is it suppose to cutout? Mine does not seem to move ever...

Thanks for any help on this.
 

shankforce

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
Sep 9, 2008
Messages
114
Re: Shift Problems

I had the same issue. What it was there was a lot of preload on the throttle cable I spun the barrell out and it was fixed. I tried a few things before I did that and it caused worse problems so I would check the cable barrells first.
 

NMBuzz

Seaman Apprentice
Joined
Jul 12, 2009
Messages
40
Re: Shift Problems

I had the same issue. What it was there was a lot of preload on the throttle cable I spun the barrell out and it was fixed. I tried a few things before I did that and it caused worse problems so I would check the cable barrells first.

Did as you suggested and it seemed OK, however I adjusted the power assisit barrel and that seemed to help more than the shift linkage cable.
Thanks for the help!
 
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