Stuck in reverse after dock line tangling in prop

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jimphillips

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I was in reverse at idle speed and backed over a dock line, which tangled bad enough to shut the engine down. I have untangled the line and the props will spin one direction but not the other. The shifter is still in reverse and I cannot get it to shift into neutral. Of course the engine will not start back since it's in gear.

This is a 5.7 Mercruiser EFI with a bravo III.

Is there any coming back from this? Or does the Outdrive have to come off for repair?
 

thumpar

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Re: Stuck in reverse after dock line tangling in prop

Did you take the props off and make sure it was all removed?
 

smokeonthewater

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Re: Stuck in reverse after dock line tangling in prop

My bet is that you tried to shift out of reverse while it was bound up and damaged your shift cable
 

alldodge

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Re: Stuck in reverse after dock line tangling in prop

I was in reverse at idle speed and backed over a dock line, which tangled bad enough to shut the engine down. I have untangled the line and the props will spin one direction but not the other. The shifter is still in reverse and I cannot get it to shift into neutral. Of course the engine will not start back since it's in gear.

This is a 5.7 Mercruiser EFI with a bravo III.

Is there any coming back from this? Or does the Outdrive have to come off for repair?

As thumper mentioned remove the props to see if something is still there.

Put muffs on the drive, water on, drive all the way down, or in the water, drive down. Have a friend with you, and don't turn the key on. Find your slave relay and with at least a 12AWG wire jumper across the 2 top terminals. When this is jumped the starter will engage. When the starter engages try to move the shifter back to neutral.

This can also be done with just the key if you bypass the neutral safety switch and start it in gear. Need to run a jumper from the Yellow/Black wire on bottom terminal of the slave relay to ground.
 

jimphillips

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Re: Stuck in reverse after dock line tangling in prop

AllDodge,

Awesome! So simple! That worked like a charm. I used a set of jumper cables to connect to the main and slave on the starter. Then took the other end of the cables to the Helm and shorted them out from there. It shifted back into neutral as smooth as ever.

Thanks for the input!!
 

GaJeff

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Re: Stuck in reverse after dock line tangling in prop

I had this happen to me with a crab trap... someone made the rope to short and the marker was under water at hi tide. I know this river very well, it's 40+ feet and it must have been put out a few days prior.

I had to jump the starter to get it out as well. It's no fun being towed in for something so dumb.

Glad you got it figured out.

Jeff
 

alldodge

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Re: Stuck in reverse after dock line tangling in prop

AllDodge,

Awesome! So simple! That worked like a charm. I used a set of jumper cables to connect to the main and slave on the starter. Then took the other end of the cables to the Helm and shorted them out from there. It shifted back into neutral as smooth as ever.

Thanks for the input!!

Your welcome, happy boating
 

s199810

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Jun 4, 2020
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Thanks Alldodge, my friend has the exactly same problem and we are going to give it a try, but why is the shifter stuck in reverse?
 

achris

More fish than mountain goat
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27,468
Thanks Alldodge, my friend has the exactly same problem and we are going to give it a try, but why is the shifter stuck in reverse?

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