mercury inboard out board wont engage forward or reverse can someone help?

Buzzwelding

Recruit
Joined
Sep 8, 2013
Messages
1
As the title says I can not get the prop to turn in forward or reverse.

Let me tell you what happened when the it stopped working.

Ok I put the boat in the water loaded up and took off everything was running fine not rattle clanks or anything I ran it almost the full length of the lake at full throttle about 20 minutes or so, I then turned the boat around and was going to run back once I was straightened back up from the turn I started making my way back the engine then started revving up and the boat came to a stop as I mentioned still there was no noise when this happened we managed to get another boater to tow us back to the dock.

Now let me tell you what I checked so far and what the results were.

with the boat still in the water and engine turned off I moved the shifter to forward drive and tried to turn the prop it turned in only one direction but not the other ( I presume this means it is actually engaging the prop ). I moved the shifter into revers same thing only the direction was switched out ( again I presume is correct ). I started the motor up and tried to put it into forward drive the motor bogged down and stalled out I put it into reverse instead of it bogging down and stalling the motor it did nothing I could rev the motor up fine in reverse but it appears to not be engages the the prop. I have loosened the outdrive alittle and can see the almost square metal slider moving back and forth but still not getting the prop to turn by the engine.

Here is all the information about the boat and type of motor I have

Mercury 228 the boat is a 1980 model glastron cabin 22 foot I am presuming that the outdrive is as old as the boat same for the motor.

Can someone please give me solid advice on how to fix this PLEASE if you need more info feel free to ask me the specifics you need?
 

ktbarrentine

Lieutenant
Joined
Dec 12, 2011
Messages
1,296
Re: mercury inboard out board wont engage forward or reverse can someone help?

Can you provide the S/N of the drive (may not be necessary, but may help in long run). Sounds like you may have either blown your gearing in the top of the outdrive, or snapped your vertical drive shaft where it enters the upper drive. From the symptoms given I am not thinking it is a spun prop hub (although it could be) or a blown coupling.
Did you happen to notice what was going on with your water temperature gauge when you lost propulsion. If you blew the gears or snapped the drive shaft (or a blown engine coupling), you would loose your water pump in the outdrive and temps would go up fast. If it is a spun prop hub, then you still have your water pump.
Note that even with a spun hub, you would get the response you got when trying to turn the prop by hand while shifter in fwd and then in rev. It takes engine power to spin the prop shaft independent of the prop when you have a spun hub (there is a way of checking this in the water by marking the prop shaft nut and the prop and then trying to go fwd, then rechecking the marks to see if they moved relative to one another).
Recommend you drain your drive oil and check for water/metal particles. Pull the drive (you need to be in fwd gear to do this) and then try and turn the yoke shaft/U-joint assembly while in fwd gear and see if the prop turns (and how much effort it takes). Then (if turning the yoke does not turn the prop) I would split the drive apart and check the vertical shaft (probably time to replace your impeller anyway??). I would also pop the top cap off of the outdrive to look at the gears.
Best of luck.
 
Last edited:

84EdH

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Apr 30, 2011
Messages
575
Re: mercury inboard out board wont engage forward or reverse can someone help?

Sounds like trouble in the upper gear housing to me. Take the cover off the drive and look in there and see if gears look chewed up.
 

84EdH

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Apr 30, 2011
Messages
575
Re: mercury inboard out board wont engage forward or reverse can someone help?

Kb, just posted without seeing yours. Drive shaft snap would not stall engine down?
 

Bondo

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Apr 17, 2002
Messages
70,465
Re: mercury inboard out board wont engage forward or reverse can someone help?

As the title says I can not get the prop to turn in forward or reverse.

Let me tell you what happened when the it stopped working.

Ok I put the boat in the water loaded up and took off everything was running fine not rattle clanks or anything I ran it almost the full length of the lake at full throttle about 20 minutes or so, I then turned the boat around and was going to run back once I was straightened back up from the turn I started making my way back the engine then started revving up and the boat came to a stop as I mentioned still there was no noise when this happened we managed to get another boater to tow us back to the dock.

Now let me tell you what I checked so far and what the results were.

with the boat still in the water and engine turned off I moved the shifter to forward drive and tried to turn the prop it turned in only one direction but not the other ( I presume this means it is actually engaging the prop ). I moved the shifter into revers same thing only the direction was switched out ( again I presume is correct ). I started the motor up and tried to put it into forward drive the motor bogged down and stalled out I put it into reverse instead of it bogging down and stalling the motor it did nothing I could rev the motor up fine in reverse but it appears to not be engages the the prop. I have loosened the outdrive alittle and can see the almost square metal slider moving back and forth but still not getting the prop to turn by the engine.

Here is all the information about the boat and type of motor I have

Mercury 228 the boat is a 1980 model glastron cabin 22 foot I am presuming that the outdrive is as old as the boat same for the motor.

Can someone please give me solid advice on how to fix this PLEASE if you need more info feel free to ask me the specifics you need?

Ayuh,.... Welcome Aboard,.... You've already broken the seal of the gaskets, Pull the drive, 'n inspect everything now,...

The drives Gotta come off anyways to replace the gaskets, 'n o-rings,...
 
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