1996 4.3lx mercruiser sometimes doesnt go into gear, then shifts hard because of rpm

[jasonmd13]

My 1996 rinker 18' bowrider with a 4.3 lx mercruiser inboard/ outboard. It runs good, but sometimes when you push the throttle foward into gear, it only raised the rpm's and then finally goes into gear hard because of the increased rpms. It only does this every now and then, but seems to do it when loading the boat on the trailer or when it's time to pull the wakeboarder. I didnt see anything on iboats with the same problem. Does anyone have a solution? Thanks Jason

 

[Don S]

Re: 1996 4.3lx mercruiser sometimes doesnt go into gear, then shifts hard because of

The control cables are not adjusted properly on the engine.
Here is how to adjust the shift cable, the throttle cable gets adjusted so there is light preload on the carb linkage to the idle position.
View attachment A1G2 Shift Cable Adjust.pdf

 

[jasonmd13]

Re: 1996 4.3lx mercruiser sometimes doesnt go into gear, then shifts hard because of

Thanks Oracle, I went to adjust the cable and found the 2main bolts holding the whole assembly were really loose. I tighten them and everytime it went into gear before rpm increased. Hopefully that fixed it. It didn't do it every time. Thanks a lot. In the process I found a chuck of metal behind my propeller. I will post another thread and see if anyone knows what that is.