HELP! 92' 40 merc won't shift into gear?

[05GlastronSX]

I have 2 boats, 1 is a glastron with a 2005 Merc 150. My second boat (and the one I am having a problem with) is a 16.5' fisher with a 40 Merc on it.<br /><br />I bought the motor used, it is a 1992, 4 cyl, oil injected 40 H.p. It was rigged as a console steering unit with I had the dealer convert to a tiller unit for the boat.<br /><br />All the tiller components were purchased new by the dealer from Mercury in 2000. We winterized the motor last fall and it had been working just fine since owenership.<br /><br />We went to put her in the Lake on Thursday night and she fired right up and sounded fine. I let her warm up and went to put it into reverse and nothing. No grinding noise, no clunking, no sound of shifting into-out of gear. Same is true for the forward gear.<br /><br />I took off the cover to make sure the cables were moving / functioning and they are. Is there a problem with the lower unit or is it just a small cable problem?<br /><br />I'm not a mechanic so any suggestions and direction would be great.

 

[05GlastronSX]

Re: HELP! 92' 40 merc won't shift into gear?

does anybody have any input or advice??

 

[sport15]

Re: HELP! 92' 40 merc won't shift into gear?

Inspect the shift linkages. There is an outside chance that when the tiller conversion was added the hardware on the upper shift arm/slider was either not tightend enough or has worked loose. If this is not the case look down at top of the forward end of the cavitaion plate for a small rubber boot no bigger in diamiter than a standard Bic pen. If the shift rod passes outside the middle case this should be it and without the engine running, you might be able to pinch this boot and feel for movement. No movement means something is loose up top, movement without clutchdog engagement (spind the wheel by hand to see) in the lower unit means that it just got expensive and the lower unit is sick..<br /><br />Good luck..