tough shifting into neutral

[mwe-maxxowner]

Sometimes it is a bit difficult to get my boat into neutral. When it is it takes a bit more effort than it should to push it from fwd to neutral. So that it may overshoot neutral and you actually go past it toward reverse and have to then pull back up slightly to neutral. It is not too awful bad on my boat, but my fathers boat does the same thing, only MUCH worse.

The boat is an 86 Dixie hustler 188 with 4.3 v6 and alpha one outdrive.

Any ideas what I should check?

Also there is a flexible black rubber hose coming out of my boat with the outdrive. Mine is cracked and torn. What is this and how much should I expect to pay a boat mechanic to fix it?

Trying to get any odds and ends I need done to the boat so I can have it in tip top shape for summer.

 

[ziggy]

Re: tough shifting into neutral

it's just your time for pm.
when the lower shift cable goes bad, it acts like yours does. once adjusted. they don't go out of adjustment. the cable wears to the point of misadjustment. the repair is replacement of the lower shift cable. the symptom is hard to go into neutral.
their are three bellows on the lower. the exhaust bellows which don't matter if it's ripped or missing as the exhaust is always under water. the other two however are most important to be sealed. one is the shift cable bellows. you'll be replacing that one when ya do the cable. the other is the drive shaft bellows. the larger big one above the smaller exhaust bellows. either of these fail and ya may go blub blurb. with the exception of the exhaust bellows. it's time to replace the rubber. might as well do the water hose while your there. it's painful to do.
there's other pm to do while ya got the drive off.
price wise, at the shop. i've no idea. probably a lot. the job is time consuming and somewhat painful to do... check the stickys at the top of the fourm. ya should find some info on what's involed in these jobs. + maybe service manuals to do it right if ya wanna do it yourself.

 

[fishrdan]

Re: tough shifting into neutral

Sounds like the shift interrupt switch isn't working, it momentarily cuts the ignition only when coming out of gear, to unmesh the drive gears and allow for easy shifting. If it goes into gear smoothly, I'd check it first.

Cracked bellows is bad and they needs to be changed before things get expensive.

 

[mwe-maxxowner]

Re: tough shifting into neutral

Gotcha. I'll take a picture and post to see exactly which one. I figured from the reading I've been doing it was bellows but I don't know which. I get no water in the bilge when running her though. Is the manual sold on this site a good one? Or generic and not very specific. I do everything I can myself. But I want to make sure I can do it right.

Edit she does go into gear smoothly. Where is this switch physically located?

 

[ziggy]

Re: tough shifting into neutral

check out the service manuals in the sticky, under mercruiser. buy the proper one if need be.

Gotcha. I'll take a picture and post to see exactly which one.

there are 3. the smallest one, wrapped around a cable on the starboard side is the shift cable bellows. then there are two rilght in the middle of the drive. the lowest one (the medium sized one) is the exhaust one. it's easy to see. the larger drive shaft bellows is directly above the exhaust bellows. it's harder to see. it's notably larger in dia. than the exhaust belllows. the water hose is on the port side, it can be seen easiest when the drive is turned hard to starboard.
between the stickys and an oem service manual. you can fix it. with pain...

edit.

Sounds like the shift interrupt switch isn't working

easy to test. unplug two wires and put an oem meter on it. generally speaking, the reason (assuming the switch is good) the switch don't activate is because the lower shift cable has a grove wore in th outer edge, or the cable has stretched out over time, or the lub is no loger active. point is the cable is spent. it don't activate shift interrupt switch at the proper time. when shifting into neutral. your trying to take undercut gears out of mesh. with load on them, they don't want to disengage. hence the reason the the shift interrupt switch.

 

[fishrdan]

Re: tough shifting into neutral

I do everything I can myself. But I want to make sure I can do it right.

Then you'll need the OEM manual, it's downloadable. Post up your engine/drive S/N and someone will come along with a link for you.

The S/N will help people tell you where the shift interrupt switch is located also. It's on the transom plate on my engine, other engines have it on the valve cover or shift plate. Look for a switch located where the shift cables are anchored.

 

[Don S]

Re: tough shifting into neutral

If the shifter is hard to move both into and out of gear, but doesn't stall the engine, then the problem is most likely the shift cable that goes from the helm control to the engine shift plate is probably bad and needs replaced.

 

[ENSIGN]

Re: tough shifting into neutral

I believe Don has the answer.You can also disconnect the lower shift cable from the plate and see if it shifts smoothly by working the cable by hand

 

[mwe-maxxowner]

Re: tough shifting into neutral

Its easy to.shift into gear from neutral. Smooth every time. But into neutral can be difficult. And my dads is a real bear.

 

[Don S]

Re: tough shifting into neutral

Then it's probably the adjustment of the shift interrupt switch, or the switch failed completely.

If you go back to the engine and activate the shift interrupt switch by hand, does the engine die? It should.

 

[mwe-maxxowner]

Re: tough shifting into neutral

I will check this week! As well as add any important serial numbers to my sig

 

[timothy2222]

Re: tough shifting into neutral

Maybe Check the idle speed. Turn it downs few hundred rpm and see if that helps

 

[Prophammer]

Re: tough shifting into neutral

My Interupter switch went bad and was doing the same exact thing, very hard to bring up to the dock fighting it like that!

 

[achris]

Re: tough shifting into neutral

I have a few issues here.

1. If the cable is worn it will cause shifting to be out of adjustment, not stiff.
2. The drive gears NEVER come out of mesh (or at least they shouldn't). It's the dog clutch that slides in and out of mesh.
3. Hard shifting into neutral is most usually caused by the shift interrupt switch being disabled, or non-functioning.

The most common thing I see with this sort of problem is that the initial issue is stalling when shifting gear (both into and out of gear). So some smart-alex disables the switch. Solves the stall problem, but doesn't address the real issue, which is usually the shift slide cavity in the drive (right-hand side, next the the input yoke) has flooded and crud has built up. The most usual cause of that is the upper shift-shaft seal (in the exhaust cavity) has failed.

The complete fix on this problem is multiple. First you need to verify what is actually going on, (that means pulling the drive), then determine the correct course of repair, but I would think you'll need to replace/repair/adjust/re-instate the shift interrupt switch, replace the lower shift cable, replace the upper shift shaft seal.

Sorry for being a stickler for accuracy guys, but if we are giving people advise, the least we can do is get how things work right.

Chris.....

 

[mwe-maxxowner]

Re: tough shifting into neutral

So the first step then is to check the shift interrupt switch? I really need a good manual on this thing.

 

[Bondo]

Re: tough shifting into neutral

So the first step then is to check the shift interrupt switch? I really need a good manual on this thing.

Ayuh,.... Start it up, 'n depress the switch,... it should kill the motor...