Changed impeller, put lower unit in, now always engaged

[konrad]

Hello everyone, yesterday I changed the impeller on my 89 Mercruiser 4.3 Alpha I. So I took the lower unit off, changed the impeller and had issues putting the lower unit back in. After about a half hour of spinning the big shaft and the little shaft, I must have gotten it right and it went in but it didn't seem like it went in correctly. But I tightened everything back up and went to start it in neutral. The prop was spinning like it was in forward gear for some reason. If I'd just give it throttle, forward or backward, it would spin the was way, it would stay in forward gear. If I'd try to go forward or reverse without pushing the throttle button, the motor would shut off. So it's enagaged in neautral and just throttle, but when I'd actually try to put it in gear it would die. I have no idea what to make of this.
Any help is appreciated - thanks in advance.

Konrad

 

[Fishermark]

Re: Changed impeller, put lower unit in, now always engaged

Sounds like you forgot the washer above the shift shaft. Pictured here:

 

[hoot]

Re: Changed impeller, put lower unit in, now always engaged

probably just do not have the shift shafts engaged correctly. the upper and lower shafts have to engage in the correct position. you will have to drop the lower unit, put the control in full forward position, push on the prop in the counter clockwise direction and don't bump it, and reinstall. on my outdrive, i can look at the front slightly above where the units meet and see the two shift shaft ends and tell if they have engaged. the lug and tab should be in the straight ahead position when the halves are put together.

 

[konrad]

Re: Changed impeller, put lower unit in, now always engaged

Sounds like you forgot the washer above the shift shaft. Pictured here:

I did put the washer back, except I reused the one that was in there and it's not rubber, it's metal and the inner part of the washer where the hole is, is slightly bent downward.

probably just do not have the shift shafts engaged correctly. the upper and lower shafts have to engage in the correct position. you will have to drop the lower unit, put the control in full forward position, push on the prop in the counter clockwise direction and don't bump it, and reinstall. on my outdrive, i can look at the front slightly above where the units meet and see the two shift shaft ends and tell if they have engaged. the lug and tab should be in the straight ahead position when the halves are put together.

Thanks for explaining the procedure. Just want to clarify it... I should put the control in full forward position just the throttle or engage it in gear forward? When do I push on the prop in the counter clockwise direction, when I'm putting the lower unit back in? I'm not sure which lug and tab you are talking about.
Also, there is a metal sleeve that connects the two shift shafts together, does it matter how that sleeve is sitting in? When I push it up and spin it, it engages but it engages all the way up only in one position.
Thanks

 

[Fishermark]

Re: Changed impeller, put lower unit in, now always engaged

Here is a link that may help with the basics with some pictures thrown in to help : remove and install outdrive

Have you downloaded the appropriate manual for your drive? If not, go to the "adults only" sticky at the top of the forum and download your manual.

 

[twostroke87]

Re: Changed impeller, put lower unit in, now always engaged

it sounds like you changed the gear in the lower unit so that the drive was in foreward but the throttle wasn't in foreward, so it won't work properly, its fairly common, you have to pull the lower off again. You said that you were spinning both the small and large shaft.

So what you do is pull the lower off.

get a friend to get up on the boat and shift the throttle, and you stay on the bottom and hold the part that hangs off the upper, as he shifts it pay attention to the fact that it only spins in one direction, for foreward, neutral and reverse. So for example it will spin clockwise foreward is when its furthest to your left, nuetral will be clockwise a little further, and reverse will be further clockwise.

Once you are sure where foreward is, keep the throttle in foreward, and check what gear you are in on the lower, for an alpha, when the drive in in foreward, spinning the propshaft counterclockwise will spin the driveshaft and that will be foreward.

Once your sure your in foreward on the lower, and up in the boat, you can proceed to put the drive on, make sure to keep a firm grip on the propshaft and turn it counter clockwise to spin the driveshaft, to make it easier to go up into the housing.

Just a word of advice, when its in foreward it can be difficult to turn the propshaft and also make it turn the entire driveshaft, use channel locks or vice grips and don't damage your shaft threads.

good luck!

 

[konrad]

Re: Changed impeller, put lower unit in, now always engaged

Thanks for all the suggestions everyone, I will give this a try today. Hopefully it'll fix the problem.