Shift problem

[SLiM JiM 156]

I have a 1988 Sea Ray Sorrento with a 5.7 Mercruiser. I was out on the lake coming into the no wake zone, I put the boat shifter in neutral position but the boat stayed in gear. I was messing with the shifter putting it from forward to neutral to try and get it to disengage. After about 30 seconds of messing with the controls, it became very hard to shift. By the time I got it to the dock the controls were completely frozen in neutral. When I got home I disconnected the cables from the engine and I could manually shift the drive into gear. I then pulled the cables off the controls and both the throttle & shift cable would move freely. With everything disconnected the shifter handle was still frozen in the neutral position. Are these worth trying to fix, or should I buy another one? I can't see anything binding up with the back cover off. The controls are Quicksilver. Any opinions are appreciated. Thanks

Jim

 

[HT32BSX115]

Re: Shift problem

Howdy,


It appears that you may have isolated it to either the cables or the
shifter itself.

I had a similar situation on my 87 Four Winns boat. I went from an OMC to a Merc engine and drive.

I could have probably used the OMC controls with Merc cables, but because it was over 20 years old, I thought it better to replace the control along with the cables.


I didn't like the OMC control mainly because it was fairly "sloppy" just from being more than 20 years old!


Even though the engine and drive I bought came with it's original Merc controls.....I bought a new Teleflex CH1700 control and installed it along with the new Merc cables.


Cheers,


Rick

 

[SLiM JiM 156]

Re: Shift problem

Thanks for the reply. Is it possible that the cables itself could actually be the problem even though I can move them all freely by hand? That was the exact Control I was looking at, but also found a salvage yard selling the exact replacement. It would be nice for ease of install.

 

[tschmidty]

Re: Shift problem

How about the shift interrupt switch? When it is not operating properly it will be very hard to get it to shift to neutral. Doesn't really explain the 'stuck in neutral' part though, should still go into gear. If you can move the cables it doesn't seem likely to be any of that.

With the cables disconnected, does the shifter move freely?

 

[HT32BSX115]

Re: Shift problem

How about the shift interrupt switch? When it is not operating properly it will be very hard to get it to shift to neutral. Doesn't really explain the 'stuck in neutral' part though, should still go into gear. If you can move the cables it doesn't seem likely to be any of that.

With the cables disconnected, does the shifter move freely?

The shift interrupt switch could be a factor if it shifted easily when out of the water, and not easily IN the water (presumably with the drive not "loaded")..... but,

With everything disconnected the shifter handle was still frozen in the neutral position.

The above happened out of the water. The shift interrupt switch wouldn't be a factor since it isn't needed to get it out of gear when the drive is not "loaded" (out of the water)


It sounds like the problem is in the cockpit control......

 

[NetMatrix]

Re: Shift problem

I would have to say the shift interruption switch. The one on my boat was busted, and I ended up taking it off the boat, and rewiring around it. When I'm out of water it will go into neutral without any problems, but in water it is hard to do.

 

[cr2k]

Re: Shift problem

No one ever thinks to take the control box apart and grease it once in a while. They need love too. If it is not to far gone use white grease.

 

[tschmidty]

Re: Shift problem

With everything disconnected the shifter handle was still frozen in the neutral position.

Oops, not sure how I missed that, but yeah take it apart, see if you can figure out what's wrong or buy a new one.