Weirdest thing....

Alright, so I'm not a Marine mechanic, but I am rather mechanically sound. I pulled the boat (1989 Celebrity 231 Cuddy with Merc 350 Mag and Alpha 1 Gen1 outdrive) out and ran it with no trouble memorial day weekend. Since then I bought a Stingray Hydrofoil and pulled the lower unit off to install. No problems with the install. Took the boat out for the first time since and the strangest things happened immediately when I launched.

First, I have no neutral with the neutral button pressed. Instead I have forward gear as I would normally. I have no reverse at all and lastly with the neutral button not pressed, the engine dies as soon as I put it into forward gear. When I put in reverse, i have forward gear!?!?!?!!?!

So my assumption is that I must have misaligned something. I believe I was misinformed about removing the lower unit and may have had the throttle in forward for the removal/install. Any chance this is the culprit? Thanks in advance for everyone's help.

Re: Weirdest thing....

sounds like you need the manual from the Adults Only section.
control box in fwd, outdrive in fwd it`s the only way

Re: Weirdest thing....

Well you should have it in forward when pulling the drive or the lower.
Its not really needed when you pull the lower but a good habit is better than a boo boo.
If all you did was drop the lower and reinstall it, you may have got the shifter in the wrong spline when you put it back in. Pop it back apart and then start over with the install and check everything twice.

Re: Weirdest thing....

Thanks guys. I must have missed that section in Adults Only when I looked.

Biffle, are you talking about the drive shaft or the smaller shaft in the front?

Re: Weirdest thing....

When you drop the lower unit, right in the front of it is a splined shaft. it needs to lock into the shaft in the upper. If both are not exacly locked in forward gear they may be able to jump a tooth.
Like if when you have the lower drive off and your 4 year old starts moving the shift lever,, Oh wait, that was me...

Re: Weirdest thing....

Once again I think we have a lost shift shaft washer, and the intermediate shift shaft has dropped out of the upper shift shaft linkage. Does the control lever move back and forth freely? If so, run the drive up a little and look underneath. Is intermediate shift shaft mated to the upper shift shaft as in Ziggy's photo here (post 14) http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?p=2764600#post2764600. The intermediate ss sits on top of the washer and if the washer is missing the intermediate ss will drop down out of the upper ss fitting, that leaves you with no shifting at all. If you were off by a spline on the lower ss your control lever would bind when you tried to shift out of forward. Have to find the washer, split drive enough to drop it over the splined shaft and put er back together. Keep control lever in forward and intermediate ss pointed straight ahead. Good luck.

Re: Weirdest thing....

Stonyloam, thanks a ton. That makes sense. I'll have to try it tomorrow.