1984 85hp prop runs in neutral

[Tatoo16]

Hi need help.A little history to let you know how this happened.I took my boat in to our local Mercury Service Centre
to have it winterized,next spring used boat for ten minutes and bang the leg gears piled up.Found out they put
the oil plug in crooked and the oil leaked out.They wouldn't do anything so went elsewhere and had the leg fixed.
Took it home and stared it up and the prop was turning in neutral. I shut it off and tried to turn prop in neutral and you
could feel the motor turning. I took it back thinking the linkage was hooked up wrong they looked at it and said it
wasn't the linkage but on the motor side and would have to take it apart. My question is does this sound
right or am i getting the shaft again.Thanks hope someone can help

 

[JB]

Re: 1984 85hp prop runs in neutral

Hello, Tatoo.

:welcome:

Not real familiar with that outboard, but no outboard I ever messed with was like that. You have gears, a dog clutch and oil in the foot. Linkage goes up to beside the engine to tell the gears what to do. . . well, except the OMC electric shifting ones. If gears are engaged it is either in the foot itself or the linkage that tells them what to do. The engine has nothing to do with it.

 

[Tatoo16]

Re: 1984 85hp prop runs in neutral

Hello, Tatoo.

:welcome:

Not real familiar with that outboard, but no outboard I ever messed with was like that. You have gears, a dog clutch and oil in the foot. Linkage goes up to beside the engine to tell the gears what to do. . . well, except the OMC electric shifting ones. If gears are engaged it is either in the foot itself or the linkage that tells them what to do. The engine has nothing to do with it.

Thanks for the reply.that is what I thought because it worked fine before they redone the leg.

 

[pnwboat]

Re: 1984 85hp prop runs in neutral

I couldn't imagine any reputable shop saying that the problem was on the motor side based on your symptoms. Maybe the guy you spoke to was confused or didn't know how to explain it. Regardless I agree with JB. Problem has to be in the linkage or inside the gear case. If it's not the linkage, then sounds like the little gear shift arm is not engaged with the yoke to pull/push the clutch dog back and forth. Same thing that happens when you accidentally remove the shift pivot pin and move the throttle back and forth. Clutch dog just stays where ever it was last set, either forward, neutral, or reverse and you cannot change it.

 

[Jiggz]

Re: 1984 85hp prop runs in neutral

Agree with the initial diagnosis offered so far. However, you can verify if this is a shifter cable or shifter linkage problem by trying to adjust the control handle back and forth to see if the gear goes into neutral. You can do this with the engine off except you need to go back and forth between the control handle and the prop to verify neutral. If it shifts to neutral but the control handle is not in neutral, then you can just adjust the cabling or linkage to zero or center the control handle. If you cannot shift the gear to neutral at all positions of the control handle, the most likely problem is inside the gear case linkage.

 

[jerryjerry05]

Re: 1984 85hp prop runs in neutral

Fill out the profile,location?? You might be close to someone who can help??
You need to go out and unhook the shift cable.
Then try to shift it by hand,turning the prop with your foot as you do(motor off).
Go through the gears FNR,FNR and see if it works.That work, then the cable adjustment is out.
As for the Mercury dealer,way too many get away with crappy service. Go to the BBB and then contact the Mercury company.
Make a stink!!!!

 

[tgvector64]

Re: 1984 85hp prop runs in neutral

It took me hours to get my shifter and cables in sync with the motor controls. Once u get your shifter lever centered and in the neutral position, then the throttle and gear linkage where they are supposed to be its just a matter of adjusting the cables to match. Its tedious but well worth the time to do. Mine was so out of adjustment I had to find some different length cable ends to get it where it needed to be.
If they aren't right it puts a lot of unnecessary pressure on the linkage and on the shift unit itself. Good luck.

 

[tgvector64]

Re: 1984 85hp prop runs in neutral

If there is not enough adjustment on the engine side of the cables there is adjustments on the control side to. kinda a pain to get to but they are there.