Shift Cable Issue?

R

robbo8199

New Member
Aug 3, 2010
59
Houston
Boat Info
1995 Sea Ray 175
Engines
Mercruiser 3.0LX Alpha One
I know it’s still winter but I am beginning to look forward to this boating season and the work that needs to be done before hand :smt089. I have a 1995 Sea Ray with the Mercruiser 3.0LX Alpha-1.

At the end of last season my boat started to die when I would attempt to shift it into reverse. While this is certainly an inconvenience, we were able to get around this during the last month or so of the season by simply walking the boat off the trailer, turning it around and then start off facing the direction I needed to go. I spend most of my time in a small unpopulated lake where maneuverability was not much of an issue.

My pathetic description of what I see happening…..

While looking at the top of the engine…. when putting into forward you can see the “kill switch” gets engaged for a second and as it goes into gear the little lever that pushes on the switch rotates right off of the switch so that the engine continues to run once it is in gear. Same process for reverse but as it goes into gear that lever never rotates off of the switch so it simply kills the engine every time.

From what I have read online there seems to be a general consensus that this is a “lower Shift Cable” issue and a replacement is probably needed. I have read that over time this cable can stretch and then will no longer have the correct elasticity to do its job.

This leaves me with 3 Questions for you guys……

1. For those of you with experience does this sound like the correct diagnosis or could it be something else? Any other things I could/should try before replacing this cable?

2. If this is the correct issue what is the consensus of how much work and knowledge is needed to do this on your own? I have a decent amount of skill to work on a car engine but this is my first boat and really my first boat specific issue (of many I am sure) outside of simply changing fluids and more simple tasks. My biggest concern would be making sure I have it adjusted correctly once replaced.

3. I have not had to take my boat in for any other reason in the past so this would be my first trip to the boat shop if I decide to go that route. I called my local shop to get an idea of their process for having work done and wanted to get an idea if this is the norm for a good shop. They charge $110 per hour for labor with a 1 hour minimum. So if I were to bring it in for an estimate that would requirte a 1 hour minimum but if I have the work done that hour would be applied to the work being done. He said if it is indeed the lower shift cable the hit you for the price of the kit which he said is $116 plus 2 ½ hours labor to have it installed. So assuming this were to go smoothly it would cost $391

I appreciate any thoughts or comments anyone has on this. And of course I am happy to add any other amount of detail you think would help.

Thanks in advance, :smt001
Robb
 
Sounds right. I did mine on a 1981 26 searay 350 with the alpha drive. It was easy!! I also have done one on a bravo 1 and that was easy to me. Get someone to help you. That you know.
 
Thanks for the response 300SR. I am leaning towards doing it myself if I can find good instructions of how to do so online. Seems as though it is a manageable project assuming I don’t go through all of the trouble only to find out that was not the issue.:grin:

Anyone else have any other thoughts?
 
Not to scare you.....my friend has your setup and they had to remove the engine! I've done mine on the CV-23 and it's a V8 and I had no trouble reaching it. I was told the 3.0LX had to be removed. I hope not for you, Mike.
 
Thanks for making my heart skip a beat Mike :grin:. I sure hope the engine doesn’t need to be pulled to get this done. My local shop quoted me 2 ½ labor hours to do the job so I would imagine that would be much higher if they had to pull the engine. Although that quote was over the phone before they looked at it so who knows. I’ve never had to take the boat into the shop before so hopefully I can avoid that here.
 
Other than the killing issue, does it shift reasonably well? What type of kill switch assembly do you have... the spring-metal tab-type or the button-type?
 
mwph said:
I think Dennis is on to something. Make sure it is not just the switch causing the trouble. If it shifts fine, the cable replacement may not be needed. Anyhow, This is a great site for general Merc information.....

http://www.mercstuff.com/howdoi.htm

Check it out for lots of good reading. Again, good luck.
Click to expand...


You can also unhook the shift cable to the drive (on the shift plate on exhaust manifold) and shift it by hand while running at idle and see if the cable is binding. Mine was stiff and had a kink in it...that's all it takes to trip the interrupter switch, Mike.
 
I really appreciate the help. I'm not sure how to answer that question Dennis. The switch has a plastic housing with a button on the top if it. It has a metal tab that runs at roughly a 45 degree angle with a round plastic wheel on the end of it. As you shift, this wheel rotates and as it does the metal tab presses down on the button on the switch for just a second then as it goes into gear it rotates back off and allows the engine to run. Not sure if this makes sense.

The switch itself works fine as it clearly does the job of cutting the engine off, but I do wonder if the mechanism is messed up somehow.

I have a couple pictures of this on my phone but having issues getting it loaded to the site so that I can post them here for you guys to see.

Thanks for the link mwph. That is a good resource.
 
I'm pretty sure I know what you mean, but post the pics just to be sure. There is a forum category called "Announcements and FAQ" - in there is a "how to post pics" thread. That might help you figure it out.
 
I'll try to get the pics as soon as I can. My issue is not how to upload them but that I am at my office where there are plenty of hurdles to try and get them on here. I can email them from my phone just fine, but I don't have a program to resize them to fit on my work computer. I'm going to keep trying to see if I can get it figured out.
 
NewImage1.jpg


Here is a shot of the switch. Picture came our really small so I'm not sure this is much help. For some reason it was the largest that I could upload while making due on my work computer.
 
If this link to the photobucket album works you can see the pictures much bigger here. Once picture shows it working correctly as the wheel (at the end of the metal flap) stays in the groove. In the other picture is when I shift into reverse and the wheel seems to come out of the groove therefore putting more pressure on the switch killing the engine. Even when fully in reverse it stays this way.

http://s1256.photobucket.com/albums/ii486/SeaRay1755/?action=view&current=NewImage2.jpg#!oZZ1QQcurrentZZhttp%3A%2F%2Fs1256.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fii486%2FSeaRay1755%2F%3Faction%3Dview%26current%3DNewImage1-1.jpg
 
OK, that works. I'm thinking a replacement cable might be in order, especially if it's old. But, here's a thought.

With the engine off, and in neutral, spin the prop by hand in both directions. You should not feel/hear any "ratcheting". If so, adjust the brass barrel adjuster so there is none. Next, shift into FWD and spin the prop - in one direction it WILL ratchet. Do the same in REV. Compare the ratcheting force to each other - again, adjust the barrel so it feels the same in both directions.

Note on adjusting barrel adjuster... count the threads on the shift cable for a starting point. Then make a note of every time you adjust it by counting how many "turns" you do, one way or the other.

In the end, this may not help, but it at least gets it the best it can be. I'd also apply some grease to the moving contact points and work it in.

Be careful with this one, but you could try bending the arm a little to see if it makes enough of a difference. You just don't want to go so far that it neutralizes the cut-out feature.
 
Thanks for the ideas Dennis. My plan was to do some adjusting as needed this weekend and report back but my weekend got away from me before I had the chance.

I did spend a couple minutes rotating the prop as you suggested and did find there was much more resistance when turning by hand in reverse then in forward. It was pretty easy to turn while in forward but in reverse I could barley do it with one hand. When I have some time I will try to adjust the barrel to see if I can get it closer.

I did also notice that since the last time I took the boat out (and took those pictures) when in reverse the wheel above the kill switch no longer comes out of that groove. There also seems to be more friction on the cable when I first shift into reverse then there is when I shift forward.
 
Good - hopefully that will take care of it for you. Post back when you get a chance to take a closer look at - I'll be curious to see if that solves the problem or if a new cable is still in your future.:smt001
 
I finally got a chance to tinker with the boat this weekend …..

When I started the prop was much more difficult to turn when in reverse then it was in forward. I spent some time turning the barrel 1 turn at a time to try and get an even amount of resistance between the two. After just a couple turns it was pretty close so I fired her up and gave it a shot. Low and behold it seems to have been a success. It appears to shift into both forward and reverse without any problems. It may be a little while before I can get it into the water to try it out in the real world but I seem to be on the right track. I have no idea how old the shift cable is so I may still need a new one at some point but we will see how it goes the next few times out.

Now on to the next few projects…. (new prop, tune up, etc.)

Thanks again for the help!

Robb
 
Dennis,

Thanks for posting. I also had shift problems and your advice fixed the issue. I was surprise how many yurns it took. It was probably never adjusted. I just got tyje boat last year. I now know how the shift should feel. Thanks.
 
the shift interupter should not work on land, you need a cable or find the corrosion. it only operates coming OUT of gear, in the water , with a load on the prop.
 
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