Hard shifting

[Great Escape]

Port throttle is difficult to get into forward position sometimes. There is no thumping, grinding or noise that seems to be out of line just hard to get in gear or out of gear into the neutral position. Starboard side throttle works perfect. Could it be lack of oil, grease on the throttle cable or sometype of manual adjustment? If it requires some type of lubricant where is the best place to apply it? It appears the only open spot would be where the cable is exposed above the intake manifold.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[JeffMendenhall]

I have the same problem with my starboard engine, have had the Marina try and adjust it twice, but they have made it worse. Look forward to seeing other replies on this subject.

 

[Good Grief]

What is the engine speed while shifting? I had a problem with my port engine and discovered the idle speed was set too high, 800 rpm vice 600 rpm. Once the idle speed was correctly set (by a different marina than the one that did the tune up...) the problem went away.

 

[DukesFin]

A quick check to find out if it is the cable or the throttle assembly at the helm is to remove the throttle assembly, take off the black cover and disconnect the throttle cable. Shift it forward and reverse. See if it is easier. Then remove the shifter cables. Try it again. This will allow you to isolate the problem to one of the cables or the shifter itself.

If it is the cable that is giving you problems, they do make a tool that allows you to lubricate the cables, but I'm a fan of putting new cables on AFTER I have really lubed them up really well. That will give you years of trouble free cables!

 

[keokie]

Hard shhifting on the BIII is often due to water getting in the shift mechanism and cable. This usually happens as a result of a bad o-ring or gasket on the drive, or a leaky shift cable bellows. Check the shift mechanism cavity in the drive for water by either pulling the drive, or removing the front cap on the drive.

 

[Great Escape]

Keokie, would the issues you are talking about lead to any water in the bilge? At the end of each day I have approximately 1 gallon of water in the bilge. If it does then perhaps the shift cable bellows are bad?

Thanks for your comments

 

[keokie]

The shift bellows would definitely let water in the boat, but MIGHT not let it in the cable to cause the problem. If the water is getting into the shift compartment from another source, it can run all the way through the cable into the boat if the end of the shift cable is below the waterline.

There are a number of sources for potential leaks on BIII's. The most common are belows, steering swivel shaft seals, y - pipe o - ring, or even the transom assembly gasket. All are easily correctable once you get to them. Unfortunately, some require the removal of the engine.

But I bet that hard shifting is water in the shift assembly in the drive. That is self-evident and pretty easy to fix, once you remove the drive.