Lost drive and reverse

[Rob Hazel]

While coming home in my 06 240 sun dancer I was travelling about 3 or 4 MPH when it felt like It slipped out of gear but the engine made a small whining noise when put back into drive or reverse. Motor was running but the prop wasn't turning. Is that a shift linkage problem or something else? Had to tow it to my dock and is now out of the water. Any suggestions? Thanks

 

[Bt Doctur]

with the key in your pocket ,shift into fwd , have someone watch the input shaft while someone steps on the prop blade to turn it.
prop turns, shaft does=engine coupler
prop turns, shaft dosent= outdrive issue

 

[JimG]

If it still feels like it's shifting in and out of gear, the prop does not turn, and you hear a whizzing sound when in gear, its your coupler.

The engine has to be pulled to replace it.

 

[Henry Boyd]

Hang on guys. What model drive is it? The Alphas and Bravos have completely different gear trains, some versions also having hub-less props. If it is a Bravo of any stripe, the last thing he should be doing is shifting it with the engine off.

Henry

 

[Woody]

The std propulsion for his boat was 5.0/Bravo 3.

 

[Rob Hazel]

Hang on guys. What model drive is it? The Alphas and Bravos have completely different gear trains, some versions also having hub-less props. If it is a Bravo of any stripe, the last thing he should be doing is shifting it with the engine off.

Henry

It is a bravo drive

 

[Rob Hazel]

Thanks for the suggestions but it didn't shift out of gear the prop just stopped turning when I gave it just a very small amount of throttle . When I put it into neutral and then back into drive that is when it sounds like a small whizzing/whining

 

[OllieC]

Could be as simple as the lower shift cable. Has it ever been replaced? Have you ever had the Bravo 3's bellows replaced?

 

[chasin'rays]

Thanks for the suggestions but it didn't shift out of gear the prop just stopped turning when I gave it just a very small amount of throttle . When I put it into neutral and then back into drive that is when it sounds like a small whizzing/whining

It is probably the coupling between the engine and outdrive. The splines of the outdrive shaft are steel and the coupling is a soft metal prone to stripping out. parts are not to bad , labor is high for pulling the engine. Mine was about $1,500 total.

 

[Rob Hazel]

Not sure about either question, I have only had it for 2 years now

 

[Rob Hazel]

Thanks everyone for their suggestions, I can't seem to find anything myself so I'll take it in tomorrow. Heres hoping it isn't too serious.

 

[JimG]

BTW, welcome to CSR!

 

[Henry Boyd]

It seems kind of odd to me that the engine coupling would fail at basically idle speed. Makes me wonder if it is a clutch or lower shift cable issue. If the clutch failed and disengaged and only partially re-engaged when shifted into gear it might exhibit the systems Rob is experiencing.

Henry

 

[CliffA]

Thanks everyone for their suggestions, I can't seem to find anything myself so I'll take it in tomorrow. Heres hoping it isn't too serious.

nothing on a boat that money and/or time can't fix......

good luck.....

cliff

 

[JimG]

I've had all three failures mentioned here on my previous boat (270 w/B3).

The shift cable symptom:
Would only go forward, no reverse. This depends on how the cable fails... in my case the jacket separated from the brass fitting right at the B3 shift lever.

The clutch symptom:
When I would put it in gear, there would be a 3-4 second hesitation before it would clunk into gear

The coupler symptom:
As I was pulling up to raft with a friend, it suddenly just started making a wiz sound when in either gear, prop would not move.

 

[Rob Hazel]

Thanks Jim, its a great site. I checked the linkage and it seems to be moving no problem, so sounding more like a coupler problem all the time

 

[jpl2407]

Strange, this exact same thing happened to me this weekend, mine is an alpha 1 outdrive however, turned out to be a pin on the shift cable that had come out, according to tbe marina anyway, it's fixed now.

 

[Madifonzo]

I hope it's not a clutch...I just rebuilt my upper to the tune of $2600. Fingers crossed for you. PS- don't be tempted to buy a used drive on ebay like I did...I got screwed hard and it's not worth the savings.

 

[xman999]

Hi. I just had the same problem 3 weeks ago. Running about 4mph in no wake zone...then whizzing sound..no forward or reverse. Turned out to be my coupler. Stripped all the splines out. Pulled my engine and replaced. Double checked alignment. All good to go.

 

[Rob Hazel]

Sounding more and more like the coupler and to make matters worse, I can't get it into the shop till next week and probably will take a few days after that before I get it back. Crap, there goes half of Aug....