Brand new to outboards, but believe I'm "mechanically inclined". Just bought a used Nissan 3.5 hp 2-stroke outboard, which by all appearances was in pretty good shape from what I can tell. After checking a few basic things, I fired it up in a 55-gallon drum and everything seemed to be working just fine, so my next step was to put it in a boat on the water ( I have a 12' Indian River canoe with a transom). Made it about two miles upstream on a small river here in NW Florida, only to notice that the tell tale wasn't discharging any water like it was when I had it in the drum. I throttled back to lowest throttle setting and headed back towards the ramp. Hope this didn't do any damage. Engine didn't seem to be overheating in this "limp-home" mode.
My first guess was naturally to change the impeller, which I did without any difficulty. Odd thing is, the impeller that I replaced really didn't look that bad at all. In any event, after reassembly, I put the engine back onto the 55-gallon drum and started her up again. Whatever I did seems to have cured whatever ailed the engine, however, I noticed that when I started the engine up in neutral, there was considerable movement from the propeller. In fact, when I engaged the shift lever from neutral to forward, there was just as much sloshing in the barrel as when it was in neutral.
Taking the engine off of the barrel and onto a work stand, I rechecked my assembly of the lower unit and everything is where it is supposed to be. The service manual, which I have a copy of, is remarkably sparse when it comes to anything to do with the linkage. The linkage APPEARS to be working correctly: The rod smoothly shifts when I move the lever (as seen through the plug). When I rotate the prop in either neutral or forward (clockwise, of course), I feel the same amount of resistance as I feel the piston moving within the cylinder. Shouldn't the prop freewheel when the engine is in neutral?
I'm also curious about just how much force there is supposed to be (water) coming from the tell tale (seems kind of weak), but I'll worry about that later. I have cleared the tube with a piece of wire, as I have seen suggested in several posts. Right now, I'm more worried about the shifter. I have searched the net for quite a while and haven't seen anyone describe this behavior. Any info that anyone could provide would be a great help.
My first guess was naturally to change the impeller, which I did without any difficulty. Odd thing is, the impeller that I replaced really didn't look that bad at all. In any event, after reassembly, I put the engine back onto the 55-gallon drum and started her up again. Whatever I did seems to have cured whatever ailed the engine, however, I noticed that when I started the engine up in neutral, there was considerable movement from the propeller. In fact, when I engaged the shift lever from neutral to forward, there was just as much sloshing in the barrel as when it was in neutral.
Taking the engine off of the barrel and onto a work stand, I rechecked my assembly of the lower unit and everything is where it is supposed to be. The service manual, which I have a copy of, is remarkably sparse when it comes to anything to do with the linkage. The linkage APPEARS to be working correctly: The rod smoothly shifts when I move the lever (as seen through the plug). When I rotate the prop in either neutral or forward (clockwise, of course), I feel the same amount of resistance as I feel the piston moving within the cylinder. Shouldn't the prop freewheel when the engine is in neutral?
I'm also curious about just how much force there is supposed to be (water) coming from the tell tale (seems kind of weak), but I'll worry about that later. I have cleared the tube with a piece of wire, as I have seen suggested in several posts. Right now, I'm more worried about the shifter. I have searched the net for quite a while and haven't seen anyone describe this behavior. Any info that anyone could provide would be a great help.
