Major gear shifting problems. 96 cobra sx

[Mhorvath1218]

Hey guys, had the boat out today and ran into some major issues when shifting into and out of gear. I have never had an issue before other than the throttle being a bit stiff and sometimes a little stubborn getting back into neutral. But heres what I experienced today:

Boat started up fine and is in neutral. I then shifted into reverse fine, but when I switch back into forward, and then attempt to shift into reverse again, it stayed in forward and skipped neutral entirely, which is extremely dangerous. Basically, throttling up in reverse was just pushing me forward faster. The only way I could get the boat back into neutal was to cut the power. It was extremely nerve wracking.

When I start up the boat again, it is in neutral, but then it seems to be a 50-50 chance whether reverse will work or if it will go into forward when trying to reverse. And sometimes will just stay in neutral and rev. It is so inconsistent and unpredictable and I don’t know exactly where to begin. My thought is that its an issue with the control box and not the cables. The throttle handle has gotten a but sloppy lately and when i looked behind at the workings of the control box, they definitely looked dirty and covered in old grease. I just bought the boat this year and am unaware of any control box issues in the past. It is just very confusing to me that restarting the engine would basically “reset” everything.

I am fairly handy and if this seems like a possibly issue i can repair myself, I’d like to at least attempt before paying for a shop to do so. I am just afraid to take the boat out in this condition so any thoughts would be much appreciated. Thanks

 

[Horigan]

Take the cover off the back of the drive and see how the cable operates the shift mechanism. Disconnect the cable and ensure the shift mechanism works smoothly and easily when operated by hand. If not, you have a drive issue. Also confirm smooth cable operation when disconnected from the shift mechanism. If not you could have an issue with the shift console cable connection or a stiff cable.

 

[Mhorvath1218]

Thanks Horigan. When you say take the cover off the back of the drive, what cover are you referring to? Does this involve removing my lower unit?

 

[pboater]

Horigan is refering to the plastic cover on the outdrive that has the “SX” eblum on it. It’s held on by three 3/8 bolts. One at the bottom and two at the top.

 

[pboater]

This is what you should see when you remove the cover.

The shift cable comes through and connects to the shifter with a threaded nut and cotter pin. Take a picture of where it sits on the threaded cable in case you have to replace it. Once you remove the cotter pin you should be able to move the shifter forward and backwards as if your shifting into gear. If that’s good then have someone advance the throttle lever out of neutral and in forward and reverse. Watch the movement of the cable back and forth. As Horigan said if it doesn’t move smoothly than I might be time to replace the cable.

 

[Mhorvath1218]

Ok thanks guys, I actually figured it out right after posting that. The drive shifts smoothly with the cable detached, great news. Bad news is the cable is toast. Not only does it not move the shift mechanism properly, but when I looked behind the drive (bewteen the transom and the stern drive) I can see the cable casing is torn in multiple places. Seems to have been this way a while and I probably have just been lucky to not have an issue until recently.

So it looks like i have to replace the cable. Is this difficult to do myself? I did a quick search and have seen everything from “its super easy, just yank the old one and thread the new one through” to long youtube videos that include removing the stern drive. So which is it?

 

[pboater]

It’s very simple. The videos that have the stern drive removed are for the old OMC cobra out drives, pre Volvo merger. On your model the cable is connect with one bolted clip on the exterior of the outdrive. Once you undo that bolt the cable can be pulled through the hose. Attach a piece of polypropylene string or wire when you pull the cable. A few videos that will help you out with this. The cable part number is 0176116. The last two numbers being the length of the cable. Measure the length of your old cable to make sure you buy the right one.