68 evinrude 3 cylinder 2 stroke [selectric tranny]: I had a great day off. Excited to hear my motor jump to life, I put trash can under the leg [filled it with water], got fuel in my tank with the right oil & mix. I hooked up the battery found I had spark, compression, and put the tranny in neutral and my boat jumped to life and I immeadiately shut it down cause the tranny would not go into neutral [almost tore up the plastic trash can]. So I traced the wiring in the Selectric switch, [which I changed out for the old one a couple of days ago] the wiring is the same as when I got it. But something is wrong the prop still wants to turn and the tranny just won't go into neutral, so I suspect that the wiring is not setup right. Judging from the basket I got with the boat the switch/throttle has been changed several times {extra parts} and the wiring must not be right. But I am not sure any ideas? {manual is on the way}
You will find 2 wires coming up from the leg (port side) a green and blue. With key on, while selecting gears, check for:>neutral = power to green wire>reverse = power to green and blue>forward = no power to eitherIf you find no power to either, check the blocking diode, switch or related wiring.If you have the appropriate power when the push button selector is selected, and it doesn't shift, its a leg problem (gummed up, bad solenoids, stuck links)*this leg requires "type C" gear oil!!
Thanks schematic, I will do the above test's and see what's going on. I have looked the leg over very carefully {exterior} and it looks like quite a challange to pull the leg apart any hints on changing the oil and inspecting the tranny in the leg? As always your a lifesaver {no pun intended} Denny
Okay Schematic, I got ya I will try the electrical test's first. But I suspect the oil in the gear box has not been changed for a while just because of the condition we got the boat in. Really appreciate you personally and your time to helping me trouble shoot this problem. Denny
Ummm correct me if I am wrong, but you said it was a Selectric gearcase? (as opposed to a Hydro-electric).If its anything like my old Lark40 Selectric, the default "no power" setting is Neutral.. in the newer hydro electric the gear case defaults to forward if there is no power to the wires..Having no neutral is interesting.. disconnect both wires and try starting it.. is it in neutral? if so, then your problem is likely in your controller as you suspect.Then again, that is assuming that its the same design as my evinrude Lark40 Selectric.. but it probably is fairly similiar.regardsFrank
It's a Hydro-electric. Follow schematic's first posts and we'll go from there. Disconnect the two wires from their connections at the motor and use jumper wires to determine if the problem is in the lower or forward of the knife connections. Take your prop off as the motor needs to be running when you jump the wires. Black to ground and power to both wires (green and blue) is reverse and power to green only is neutral. Good luck!
Okay let me answer these one at a time. First off Franki. The name on the switch plate, throttle/tranny says selectric evinrude 55. I looked it up by model # it is a 1968 Evinrude 55 hp. Model #55873R Serial#J03806. That's as much as I know for sure. First question:Can I safely start this if I remove the prop and put the leg in water? Thanks FrankOkay schematic, I don't have a manual yet but one is on the way.Okay Dhadley, the first problem I might have with this procedure is that the blue & green wire coming from the leg for the tranny both go to Main harness in the engine compartment. Well I should say the blue one was attached to the wiring harness when I got the boat. The green one was loose and the only logical place that it would go and after checking it out with an iboat sage. I connected it to the main harness as well [only hole not taken by a wire, with broken bits of wire like it broke off], so that may turn out to be part of the problem and yet I "closely" inspected the entire engine compartment and I could not find another open hole or socket that it might go. Funny though that green wire was what would correspond to a #12 house copper wire [solid]. Okay one more thing in your description you mentioned a black wire, there is no black wire on the switch or in the factory harness that goes to the ignition and or comes from the selectric switch. Although there is a black wire that comes back from the "main" wiring harness [@ the key switch] to the switch which is not hooked up to anything. In fact there are several that come from the main wiring harness [@ the key switch] that are not attached at the switch. 1. A grey one, 2. light brown one, 3. redish brown/white stripe one,4. black one. I will also add that neither the tac, speedometer or lights appear to be hooked up.But the wiring on the switch itself appears to be hooked up correct [ign/starter/etc. From the tranny [switch] harness there are 3 wires. 1. Lighter blue goes to Dbl red, one side of dbl red goes to key switch [ign] one side goes to main wiring harness to motor. 2. green goes to green to main wiring harness to motor or tranny if you will. 3. dark blue goes to Light blue which goes to main wiring harness [don't know destination]Okay I will try Schematic's test's first and go from there. Thanks to all of you for your help this new boater, really appreciates that there are sages out there like all of you that will help with your knowledge and time. Denny
If you find the two wires coming up from the lower unit (green and blue) they will each go to a knife connection. Undo them (or whatever it takes to get them seperate). Remove the prop. Put the lower unit in you can of water. Take two jumper wires and a 12 volt battery. If you use a seperate battery you have to connect the ground terminal to the block. If you use the boat battery it will already be connected to ground. Start the motor. With no power to the lower unit it should be in forward. Using the jumper wire hooked to positive from your 12 volt source, connect it to the green wire coming up from the lower unit. You should have neutral. Now hook the blue and green wires both to the positive side. You should have reverse. If this works we know the lower unit is working properly and your problem lies from the wire connections forward.Good luck!
Hey all, I am in the process of trouble shooting this frustrating motor now, to complete the tests. I will check in after I get her running. I you can help see my other entry under trouble shooting and what I have done so far. Thanks for all of your help, Denny
68 Evinrude selectric tranny - wiring [no neutral]
Linear Mode
