Could my mechanic have messed up?

[EricKit]

I had a boat that worked fine, took it out on the lake and it's all great. I took it to a mechanic who reinstalled the large plastic exhaust tube behind the stern drive. He had to remove and reinstall the stern drive to do this. Now, the boat won't fully engage the forward drive (It barely spins when in forward, and doesn't lock, I can turn prop backwards). I know it isn't any of the cable adjustments because I opened the upper unit and manually turned the selector knob. Could he have caused this by installing the lower unit improperly?

 

[meesh]

Re: Could my mechanic have messed up?

Probably, what are we working on?

 

[proxyx]

Re: Could my mechanic have messed up?

yes by installing the drive not in forward gear

 

[EricKit]

Re: Could my mechanic have messed up?

Sorry, forgot specs! Volvo i/o 270 1974 Model with a Ford 302 engine. It's a 18 foot glastron Swinger

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Could my mechanic have messed up?

You need to describe exactly what he did. Sure sounds like an adjustment problem to me.

If you take the cable off the shift assembly on the drive, can you make it work in forward gear?

 

[Don S]

Re: Could my mechanic have messed up?

It's a Volvo, nothing like a Mercruiser. Doesn't have to be in forward or anything weird. But you do have to disconnect the shift cable and put it back on and adjust it properly.
He probably didn't get it adjusted correctly.

Why he took the drive off to replace an exhaust bellows ??????????? that's another question. All you have to do is tilt the drive up.

I had a boat that worked fine, took it out on the lake and it's all great. I took it to a mechanic who reinstalled the large plastic exhaust tube behind the stern drive.

This is another question. what is a large plastic exhaust tube behind the stern drive? never heard of such a thing.

And what would possess you to take a boat that "I had a boat that worked fine, took it out on the lake and it's all great." to the shop to begin with.

 

[EricKit]

Re: Could my mechanic have messed up?

The large plastic thing is an exhaust tube, and I meant rubber, sorry. I'm not sure why the mechanic took it off but he had to apparently. It had to be replaced because the bellow was cracked. I don't know too many details about that because it was actually the previous owner who did all that, but he's not lying to me I know that. Also, if I remove the cable and manually turn the shift assembly, same problem.

 

[Don S]

Re: Could my mechanic have messed up?

So this was done by the previous owners mechanic and you want to know if he did something wrong by what the previous owner said and now it doesn't work.
Sorry, don't want to get in the middle of that mess.
Now, if you want to figure out how to cure a shift problem, just ask. I would suggest starting a new thread and putting the BS asside. It's YOUR boat now.

 

[EricKit]

Re: Could my mechanic have messed up?

Could the shifting problems be related to the installation of the stern drive? That is my question, because if it isn't I'm pretty sure there is a problem in the upper unit which will be costly. Making a new post.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Could my mechanic have messed up?

Questions...have you personally run the boat and did it operate properly when you did? Did you personally run the boat before allowing the mechanic to work on it?

 

[EricKit]

Re: Could my mechanic have messed up?

Questions...have you personally run the boat and did it operate properly when you did? Did you personally run the boat before allowing the mechanic to work on it?

Okay, I didn't want to get into who did what, which is why I just worded it like I drove it last time. No I did not, he drove it, he had his mechanic replace that part. But it did work last time on the lake, a mechanic removed the stern drive to replace that part, and the next time we put it on the lake it didn't work. He's my good friend so I know the boat ran well the last time like he said it did except for the cracked exhaust which the mechanic replaced.

 

[Maclin]

Re: Could my mechanic have messed up?

Exhaust bellows is not a drive removal effort for sure. Now the drive bellows above the exhaust bellows requires at least the upper unit to be removed, but again not the whole drive. So you can see how your 3rd hand description of what the mechanic did and why is too confusing to get any good answers.

I have two burning questions though...

1.) Has the boat ever worked correctly for you since you got it?

2.) Why wouldn't you just ask the mechanic to look into it

 

[Maclin]

Re: Could my mechanic have messed up?

Ignore my last post for the most part, your last post was not in yet when I started composing.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Could my mechanic have messed up?

I agree...if the mechanic was taking off the drive, he either was doing something besides just taking off the exhaust bellows or this mechanic does not know what he is doing which is what would really trouble me. If the adjustment is good, something happened internal to the drive which he supposedly did not touch!

 

[Maclin]

Re: Could my mechanic have messed up?

A cracked exhaust? you mean the bellows? That is not even worth replacing, they have holes in them on purpose anyway to drain the water.

A cracked drive bellows does need to be replaced though, it will let water into the boat and sinking is a real possibility. AND if that bellows was letting water in then the u-joints may have been compromised as well as the bearings up in the engine side of the drive.

Let's get the facts from the mechanic or the receipt/statement of work on why the drive was removed. And if it shifted fine before it was removed but not after then the mechanic is not done yet in my opinion.