force 150: no forward or reverse

[glennrow]

i was out the other day with alot of people on the boat and was running the engine at about 4K. out of nowhere, it comes out of gear. i bring it back to neutral and try to put in slowly back into forward ( nothing ) then reverse (nothing ). shut it down and tried again (nothing ). got towed in and tried it the next day ( nothing ).........it runs fine and the throttle works fine, but will not go into gear. what is the most likely problem? do they still use shear pins in these things? i have not pulled the lower unit, just trying to get as much trouble shooting done as possible before i start taking stuff apart. thanks in advance. it is a 1989, cables are fine and i have a 1991 120hp avail for parts ( assuming the lower units are the same )

 

[john from md]

Re: force 150: no forward or reverse

First, check your rigging. Make sure that the shift lever on the lower is moving into the full range. This may seem simple but, have you checked to see if maybe the cotter key broke and fell out of the lever?

You may also have a broken inner cable at the quadrant. Check the controls before pulling the lower.

BTW, never gentley shift these engines. That wears the gears out faster. You always want to engage it in gear with a thump.

Regards,

John

 

[glennrow]

Re: force 150: no forward or reverse

shift lever is good and cotter key is in place......thanks. any other simple possiblilities?

 

[john from md]

Re: force 150: no forward or reverse

Well, it sounds like a pinion gear or the shift linkage is broken inside the housing. In either case, you need to disassemble the lower.

Good luck,

John

 

[financial suicide]

Re: force 150: no forward or reverse

My 120 had a similiar problem some time ago. On the lower unit I have a shift pin sitting just above the oil drain plug. On occasions it has slackened off, on one occasion sheared and if removed results in complete loss of gear shift ability. If the pin had completely backed out, the only tell tale sign would be the gear oil in a pool around the back of the boat and the loss of gear selection.