how do i know that my lower shift cable is bad

[fightnwo]

I just brought home a 1980 with a merc 260/5.7. After I fired her up I thought all was well. She idled fine....then I tried forward....stall. Fired back up...good idle....reverse...stall. I have be reading these posts and everybody says to change the lower shift cable. But my question is why does a bad lower cable make the motor stall? I am new to I/Os so sorry for the stupid question. Thanks

 

[Bondo]

Re: how do i know that my lower shift cable is bad

Ayuh,... Your's is Bad,... It's causing other things to do what they're Not supposed to do,...
That's Why it Stalls...

 

[jerryjerry05]

Re: how do i know that my lower shift cable is bad

Sounds like it needs to be replaced.The cable when shifted out of gear activates a switch that temporarily kills the motor.It keeps the switch open too long thus killing the motor.J

 

[45Auto]

Re: how do i know that my lower shift cable is bad

An Alpha outdrive (what you have) uses "dog clutches" (big notches) to engage the gears. Shifting dog clutches under power destroys them. The lower shift cable is connected to a cam that trips a kill switch when you go from neutral to forward or neutral to reverse. The kill switch momentarily kills the engine so you don't destroy your dog clutches. A binding lower shift cable holds the kill switch down too long and the engine dies.

Doesn't sound like you checked the boat out too well before you bought it. There's lots of other things (leaking bellows, gimbal bearings, u-joints, drive seals, rotton stringers, rotton transoms, internally corroded exhaust manifolds and risers, etc) that could be expensive that you should learn about or get someone to check out before you put too much money in a 30 year old boat ....

 

[ziggy]

Re: how do i know that my lower shift cable is bad

looks like eveyone else has ya hip to your problem...
here's another read from the adults only sticky at the top of the i/o forum.
http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?p=1930449#post1930449
it's a real good read too..

look at all the threads in the adults only sticky too. lots of good info in that sticky thread...

 

[PitchFork]

Re: how do i know that my lower shift cable is bad

Sounds like the lower shift cable. I would pull it off the shift lever and move it back and forth to see if it binding up. It sounds like it is bad. If it was out of adjustment one of the gears would work I believe either forward or reverse. You can look at this thread http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=328474 to see if it can be adjusted before going through pulling the outdrive and replacing the shift cable.

 

[fightnwo]

Re: how do i know that my lower shift cable is bad

Thanks for the info. I just wanted some feedback before I went and spent the $ on the new cable. I might as well replace the bearing as well? Anything else? The good thing is that this boat was real cheap to bring home ($400). Most everything else is in pretty darn good shape. It had just been sitting out of the water for 4 years. I have already changed the gear oil, motor oil. I also need to replace a few wires here and there. Thanks again and I will updated as progress is made.

 

[jgrz]

Hello, have you found a solution to this problem? I just recently ran into the same problem on my boat and your description of the problem best matches the symptoms that my boat is experiencing. Any kind of help or advice is greatly appreciated, thank you.