Lower unit repair?

[Cawalters92]

So I recently bought a 1989 sunbird Corsica 175 with a rebuilt omc (GM) 140 engine that looks nothing short of amazing as far as look wise with about 10 hours on it. All new hose and wires and everything. Fresh fluid and gear oil in everything as well. Motor cranks without any hesitation. And the interior of boat is flawless. But here is the problem. When the boat is in the water it won't go in reverse. I put it in gear to go forward and it will make a clunk noise and you can also feel it. This happens initially when going into gear (which I heard can be normal) but it continues to do so about 3 or 4 times until I reach a higher speed. This only happens in forward and no clunk sounds going in reverse can be heard. I just don't move anywhere while in reverse just rpm moves. When I have it out the water the sounds are not there except the initial going into foward/reverse gear. And the propeller does spin going in reverse but there's no strength behind and is stopped easily. I had a guy say I need to replace the lower unit. But I would love for a second opinion before I fork out $1000 dollars. If i do have to get lower unit any places that sell for a good price that you know of? Thanks for the help.

 

[alldodge]

Don't think this is a steering and control issue, or a problem with the drive, this is a stern drive cable adjustment. Need the OMC guys have a look at this

 

[Cawalters92]

I'm new to the whole boating thing.... who are the omc guys?

 

[alldodge]

This was originally in the steering and control area, and I sent a message to the Moderators suggesting to move it to the OMC section. So your in the right section now, just need to wait to see if comments come in. If comments do not come in by tomorrow, post again with anything and I'll see if I can stir the pot some more.

Scott Danforth

 

[Cawalters92]

Ohhhhh my apologies thankyou!

 

[Scott Danforth]

Cobra shift cable. Can be difficult to adjust. Do a search, plenty of write-ups on iBoats

 

[Cawalters92]

Okay, I'll do some research. I actually have a omc manual that the fella let me have when selling me the boat. I am by no means mechanically inclined but I will give it a go. If anyone can think of any other reasons this may be happening feel free to comment.

 

[Lou C]

Do not keep running the boat with it shifting like that. The cable is either defective (sticky) or completely out of adjustment. You may need a new cable and to adjust it properly, there are 3 tools made by OMC and others to make sure the adjustments are accurate. However, once the drive starts jumping out of gear, the notches on the clutch dog and on the fwd and rev gears may wear to the point where it won't stay in gear even with a good cable and proper adjustment. That means a new clutch dog and fwd & rev gears are needed (lower unit rebuild).

 

[Cawalters92]

Thanks Lou... Now I know you obviously can't tell me for certain... But with your educated opinion would you say this does sound more of a shifter cable problem rather than a clutch dog problem?

 

[Cawalters92]

Trying to upload some photos but they all exceed the 2mb limit.

 

[Cawalters92]

Here are some images that I posted to Craigslist because I was unable to post them here.

 

[jbetzelb]

The engine was out of it and rebuilt. It will have to have a shift cable adjustment. You need to take it to a marine mechanic that knows OMC and have them try to adjust the shift cable. They will also tell you if you need a new one. Like noted above dont use it until you get this done. If all it needs is adjusted it will take them less than an hour and likely cost less than a $100 bucks.

 

[Cawalters92]

Ended up being the clutch dog. Ugh. Found a 4 gear set to under 300 and mechanic for 55 an hour. Hopefully this doesn't hurt to much... Should have a great working boat afterwards though.

 

[Cawalters92]

How long of a repair is that?