accidentally over-revved in neutral, damage?

Ok, just got a Searay 185 with Mercruiser 4.3L inboard. Third time out, just learning the ropes. I was told if the engine wasn't starting, I could try neutral revving it to get going. So I accidentally over-revved WOT in neutral for a couple second, engine was very loud. The motor/trim was not down as well (newbie me). Anyways, the boat ran okay for that session but the tach seemed jumpy, fluctuating to 5000+rpm and back even though I was only slowly accelerating and the engine was not even overworked. The engine seemed noisier than usual but that day the water a little choppy as well, so couldn't really tell. Don't know if the tach is related to the incident, never noticed it being jumpy before. My question is what could potentially be damaged and should I take it in to get checked, and what kind of cost am I looking at?

Thanks for your advice, it's frustrating being new to all this.

Re: accidentally over-revved in neutral, damage?

Hi,

Welcome to I Boats (and to boating too).

Don't be too embarresed -- we all have to start somewhere...

That said, to start with, you have an Inboard/Outboard (otherwise know as a stern-drive) -- NOT an inboard....

If you had damaged your engine by "neutral reving", odds are there would be a hole in the engine -- and probably the boat too -- since the most common damage caused by over-revving in neutral is a thown rod (i.e. engine self destructs -- don't do it )

I think either your tachometer or the wiring going to it is faulty...

How fast were you going? Your engine should run around 4400-4800 RPM at wide open throttle (WOT)....

If you were "wave jumping", your prop might have been coming out of the water for a few moments at a time -- that can cause the RPM's to surge at times...

No, you don't "get it going" by "neutral revving"...
Besides, you can't rev an engine that's not running -- nothing happens )

First of all, take your flame arrestor off (this is the air cleaner like thing). Have someone pump the throttle for you. Look into the carb and see of gas is squirting as the throttle is pumped -- if not, rebuild the carb...

Once you have made sure the carb squirts when the throttle is pumped, put the flame arrestor back on...

Your control has a big black button right in the middle of the hinge... hold the button in and shift the control to the forward position. This will bypass the gearshift and allow you to use just the throttle.

To start the engine, pump the throttle 2-3 times (the times you pumped it check to see if it squirts count by the way )
Then set the throttle somewhere around 1/4
start the engine
once it starts, back it down to idle -- take the control all the way to neutral -- the button will click out and the control is back to normal..

Do NOT rev above 1500 rpm in neutral at any time and do not go over 1500 rpm at any time when the boat is not in the water (i.e. running on muffs / hose).

DO NOT RUN THE ENGINE WITHOUT WATER!!!!
You will kill the "impellar".
This is a second water pump located in the outdrive.
It's between the upper and lower gearcases -- mounted to the top of the lower gearcase to be specific...
It supplies the water to cool the engine. The automotive like one on the engine does NOT suck water out of whatever water you are on -- it only circulates water through the engine -- the impellar sucks water in and pumps it up to the engine..
If you temp gauge goes over 160, I'd reccomend you install a new impellar....

Hope this helps