5.7 L with Bravo 3 won't go into forward or reverse.

[MilwaukeeBoating]

I have a 2002 Chapparal Signature 240 with a Mercury Mercruiser 5.7L and Bravo 3. I was driving last night in the dark on Lake Michigan and it sounded like I might have hit something although I am not positive. I was cruising around 35 MPH when all of a sudden there was a loud pop and over revving sound of the motor. It would no longer go in forward. I quickly shifted into neutral and turned off the boat. I could smell burnt rubber and there was also a strong smell of the lower unit gear lube. I raised the prop partially out of the water but it was dark out so I did not have the best opportunity to fully investigate everything but the dual props would spin like normal with my hands turning them and nothing really seemed visually damaged.

I decided to turn the boat back on and it starts and idles like normal. I looked at the inboard while idling and everything seemed fine. As I shifted into forward, the engine would rev up but the boat would not move. One key interesting fact is that I can shift it into forward but to shift back into reverse it almost feels like it is locked up on my throttle. It is extremely tight and would be a lot of force to move it into reverse and I did not want to overly force it.

Has anyone ever had a similar situation or have any thoughts on what I might have going on here? Any feedback or recommendations would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance!

 

[alldodge]

One key interesting fact is that I can shift it into forward but to shift back into reverse it almost feels like it is locked up on my throttle. It is extremely tight and would be a lot of force to move it into reverse and I did not want to overly force it.

Howdy

I'm sorry to say you probably just burned up the engine coupler and/or broke something in the upper drive. The Bravo drive needs the drive shaft spinning to shift. So if the coupler came apart then the shaft will not turn.

Go look down between the transom and bell housing and see if you see the drive shaft. Now start the motor and see if the drive shaft is spinning.

Is there any gear lube in the bilge?

 

[MilwaukeeBoating]

Wouldn't the engine coupler be better then something in the stern drive? Would just the coupler explain the reason for it being locked from going into reverse? I will go check on the drive shaft spinning this afternoon. Do I need to put the boat in forward to see this? The bilge did contain some dirty liquid but it didn't seem as dark as the gear lube. I couldn't see anything leaking but will probably get a much better visual this afternoon in the daylight.

 

[harleyman1975]

I'm thinking coupler as well. the coupler is a big job have to pull the engine to change.

 

[alldodge]

Wouldn't the engine coupler be better then something in the stern drive? Would just the coupler explain the reason for it being locked from going into reverse? QUOTE]

The coupler would be less expensive to fix probably (depends who's doing the work), but there are a couple things. In most cases when the coupler fails it still has enough of a grip on the drive shaft to spin the shaft in neutral. So IF the upper gears are in good shape and the shaft is spinning, it should go in/out of gear easy.

Now IF the input gears in the upper housing are busted, then the drive shaft can spin but not enough to make shifting work. I would also say that if the gears were busted then there usually is some noise going on

Just guessing right now, need more info

 

[MilwaukeeBoating]

Got down to check on the boat which is still in the water. As I arrived I noticed that the water around the boat was a little oily. I checked out the gear Lube reservoir and see that it has completely emptied since the issue occurred. There was no gear Lube drainage inside the boat. When I highered the stern drive slightly out of the water the oil leaking in the water began to get much worse. As I lowered the drive back down it became less. As I look at the front of the lower unit underwater (which is difficult to see) it appears that there may be a gash in it although I will not be able to confirm until pulling it from the water. I did start the boat up and do not hear any unnormal sounds coming from the inboard or outboard as I idle or shift into forward. There was still too much strain to try and shift it into reverse so I didn't force it. Unfortunately I cannot see the drive shaft as it is buried in much too tight of a spot for me to look into.

If there is a gash in the lower unit casing could this cause the reverse to locked up? What other factors in the lower unit could be causing symptoms if there isn't a gash?

 

[alldodge]

With a gash in the housing the entire drive needs to be taken apart and gone through. Either that or it will need to be replaced.

Is probably in the upper drive, but this makes little difference since things are busted internally and now need to find out what is busted