Engine tries to die when putting in reverse in lake

I have a 1986 Glastron/Conroy, Mercruiser 170, Alpha One Stern Drive...s/n's off of the engine (A655479) stern drive (0A691198) drive unit (0A686508)
This happened at the end of last season, and I had the lower shift cable replaced. This was my first time out and when I had it in the driveway with the muff's on, it shifted with a little growl, but went fine. Today I was at the lake and as soon as I tried to shift it into reverse, the engine started to sputter and tried to backfire and tried to quit. I tried a couple more times just to make sure I wasn't doing anything wrong, that I knew of, but it did it each time. I had the cable replaced by a qualified Mercruiser mechanic. What do I need to do next?
I appreciate any help that you can give me!

Re: Engine tries to die when putting in reverse in lake

I forgot to add, that when I returned home and cleaned up the boat this evening, I tried to put it in reverse and it worked fine. Any directions on how to adjust that, or should I have the mechanic do that for me?

Re: Engine tries to die when putting in reverse in lake

Take it back and have him do it right this time, with the boat in the water.

There is no load on the prop or the engine whe you shift it while it's running on the muff's.

RJ

Re: Engine tries to die when putting in reverse in lake

it works fine in the drive way because there's no load on the engine. the cable has nothing to do with it. do a linc and sync. sounds like you need to adjust your idle.

Re: Engine tries to die when putting in reverse in lake

airframer said:

it works fine in the drive way because there's no load on the engine. the cable has nothing to do with it. do a linc and sync. sounds like you need to adjust your idle.

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Sounds like an outboard thing. Only one carb here.

Re: Engine tries to die when putting in reverse in lake

Sorry, you lost me on the linc and sync. So it doesn't sound like it is an adjustment problem? I plan on calling the mechanic today, I just want to make sure that he is not trying to mislead me, and more importantly that I give him all the right information so that he can make the right call.

Re: Engine tries to die when putting in reverse in lake

Sorry, you lost me on the linc and sync.

Click to expand...

That's an outboard thing, not even possible on an IO.

Here's a link to the OEM service manual, section 2 has the adjustment procedures.
http://www-alt.mercurymarine.com/mnetdata/SERVICE/CRUISER/Servmanl/6/6covr3.pdf
Assuming the cable wasn't damaged during installation, the adjustment should take care of your problems.

Re: Engine tries to die when putting in reverse in lake

Thanks Don, and everyone else! The help is always appreciated! I will do that and see how it goes from there.