30HP Bucking at higher RPM

racerone

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Dec 28, 2013
Messages
38,898
Test run with the cowling off.------Test run with a timing light to see which cylinder might be having a spark issue.
 

Tnick

Recruit
Joined
Oct 14, 2019
Messages
3
Thanks racerone. A little more information - I used the boat duck hunting this past weekend. I'd say 75% of the time it ran fine. Able to cross the lake on plane with no issues. Randomly, it would do this rhythmic miss only when I throttled up (would always idle fine). I've read a few things on this site:

SLOW system activating - maybe a faulty Hi-Temp sensor? I don't think it's getting hot and it's peeing fine.
Gear slipping from not properly 'snapping' it into gear? It's a tiller motor, so it's possible.

Do either of these situations sound like they would give the result in the video?

Thanks for helping!!
 

racerone

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Dec 28, 2013
Messages
38,898
OK----I will change my advice to what you may want to hear.-------Take the lower unit apart to inspect the clutch dog and forward gear.-----Not sure if a 1991 model 30 HP has the S.L.O.W system installed either.
 

Bosunsmate

Admiral
Joined
Apr 7, 2012
Messages
6,135
Look at your spark plugs. Any difference in colour?
Possible failing powerpack
 

Joe Reeves

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Feb 24, 2002
Messages
13,262
That short video looks & sounds like it is repeatedly hitting a submerged object, usually brought about by the following.

********************
(Jumping Out Of Gear - Manual Type)
(J. Reeves)

This pertains to lower units on all OMC manual shift outboard engines, or any OMC engine with lower units defined as a Shift Assist or a Hydro Electric Shift unit which incorporates a "Shifter Clutch Dog".

Within the lower unit, splined to the prop shaft is what is most often referred to as a clutch dog, hereafter simply called dog. The dog has at least two lobes protruding from it on both ends, facing both forward and reverse gear. The forward and reverse gears also have lobes built into them near their center area. When the engine is running, in neutral, the gears are spinning constantly via the driveshaft being connected directly to the powerhead crankshaft, but the propeller does not turn due to the fact that the dog is centered between the two gears, and the dog lobes are not touching either of the gear lobes.

When the unit is put into either gear, shift linkages force the dog (and its lobes of course) to engage the lobes of the gear. The lobes of the spinning gear grab the lobes of the dog, and since the dog is splined to the prop shaft, the propeller turns.

The lobes of the dog and gears are precisely machined, most with right angled edges that could be installed in either direction, and some with angles slightly varied that must be installed in one direction only (one end only must face the propeller). Dogs that can be installed in one direction only, if reversed, even if the dog and both gears were new.... would jump out of gear almost immediately. Keep in mind that the lobes are precisely machined with sharp angles!

Due to improper adjustment or worn shift linkages, but usually due to improper slow shifting, those precisely machined sharp edges of the lobes become slightly rounded. Now, with those lobes rounded, as the rpms increase, the pressure of the gear lobes upon the dog lobes increases to a point whereas they are forced apart (jumping out of gear), and due (usually) to the shift cable keeping tension on the engines shift linkages..... the unit is forced back into gear giving one the sensation that the engine has hit something, and the cycle continues.

Some boaters with manual shift engines have the mistaken belief that shifting slowly is taking it easy on all of the shifting components..... Wrong! Shifting slowly allows those precisely machined sharp edges of the dog and gears to click, clank, bang, slam against each other many times before they are finally forced into alignment with each other..... and this is what rounds those edges off! The proper way to shift is to snap the unit into gear as quickly as possible.
********************
 

Tnick

Recruit
Joined
Oct 14, 2019
Messages
3
Thanks so much everyone for your help!!
i hope to check into all these things this weekend.

Tony
 

jimmbo

Supreme Mariner
Joined
May 24, 2004
Messages
13,961
To me it sounds more like an Ignition Miss than a Clutch Dog, but if the dog and gears are really shredded...
 
Top