Not sure if this is a shift cable issue, or something else? And if it is a shift cable issue, not sure if or what I need to replace, or if I just need to make an adjustment. Details are below:
I took my boat out yesterday for the first time this season, everything went excellent except for issues with the throttle.
Boat is a 1976 Invader Continental Tri-Hull. Everything mechanical is Mercrusier. Engine is an inline 6 cylinder 250 cu in at 165 HP (MCM 165).
Here are important pieces of information to help trouble shoot:
1) Last year, I had an OCCASIONAL issue that, when shifting into forward or reverse, the engine would die. This usually only happened once per outing, not every time. This was often corrected by restarting the engine, and trying again. Typically, it would only do this one time, than it would work the second time. Sometimes it took more than one restart.
2) I had a smaller propeller last year for most of the season, the stall issue was fairly rare at that time, but did still happen usually once per outing.
3) At the end of last season, I put on a propeller that was larger by 1", this was to help bring down my WOT RPM as it was higher than manual stated. After doing this, the stalling issue when going into forward or reverse got worse. I assume this is just because there is more load on the initial spinning of the propeller, I do NOT believe the propeller is too large, I think it is just bringing the issue with the boat (shift cable?) into further light
4) Last year, after engaging the forward or reverse, there was about an inch or two of "play", in which you would push the throttle more and you would not get any extra throttle out of the engine until that 1" or so was passed through.
Fast forward to this year, and my first outing yesterday...
5) Yesterday, when engaging the gear, it took about 3-4 restarts before it got into gear, engine kept dying every time I put it into gear.
6) This got better throughout the day, but still happened some more.
7) Of important note, I mentioned in #4 above about the "play". Now, it is half of the throttle or more. In other words, when putting it in forward or reverse, easily half or more of the throttle is just wasted motion where no extra RPMs are created, so probably 5-6" or so. Than once you get out of that zone, you can finally get adjustable RPMs with the throttle. I was still able to get WOT when fully pushed.
8) Please note, it is easy to shift it in and out of forward and reverse, the throttle lever thing never feels difficult to push.
So, it seems like it would be something with the shift cable, I would assume the lower cable area?
Is this something that I can just adjust?
Do I need a new assembly?
Any other ideas?
I REALLY appreciate your help; this issue is starting to make docking at the ramp fairly embarrassing.
I took my boat out yesterday for the first time this season, everything went excellent except for issues with the throttle.
Boat is a 1976 Invader Continental Tri-Hull. Everything mechanical is Mercrusier. Engine is an inline 6 cylinder 250 cu in at 165 HP (MCM 165).
Here are important pieces of information to help trouble shoot:
1) Last year, I had an OCCASIONAL issue that, when shifting into forward or reverse, the engine would die. This usually only happened once per outing, not every time. This was often corrected by restarting the engine, and trying again. Typically, it would only do this one time, than it would work the second time. Sometimes it took more than one restart.
2) I had a smaller propeller last year for most of the season, the stall issue was fairly rare at that time, but did still happen usually once per outing.
3) At the end of last season, I put on a propeller that was larger by 1", this was to help bring down my WOT RPM as it was higher than manual stated. After doing this, the stalling issue when going into forward or reverse got worse. I assume this is just because there is more load on the initial spinning of the propeller, I do NOT believe the propeller is too large, I think it is just bringing the issue with the boat (shift cable?) into further light
4) Last year, after engaging the forward or reverse, there was about an inch or two of "play", in which you would push the throttle more and you would not get any extra throttle out of the engine until that 1" or so was passed through.
Fast forward to this year, and my first outing yesterday...
5) Yesterday, when engaging the gear, it took about 3-4 restarts before it got into gear, engine kept dying every time I put it into gear.
6) This got better throughout the day, but still happened some more.
7) Of important note, I mentioned in #4 above about the "play". Now, it is half of the throttle or more. In other words, when putting it in forward or reverse, easily half or more of the throttle is just wasted motion where no extra RPMs are created, so probably 5-6" or so. Than once you get out of that zone, you can finally get adjustable RPMs with the throttle. I was still able to get WOT when fully pushed.
8) Please note, it is easy to shift it in and out of forward and reverse, the throttle lever thing never feels difficult to push.
So, it seems like it would be something with the shift cable, I would assume the lower cable area?
Is this something that I can just adjust?
Do I need a new assembly?
Any other ideas?
I REALLY appreciate your help; this issue is starting to make docking at the ramp fairly embarrassing.
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