Mechanic question

[chris75h]

I am curious if this explanation sounds right to anyone. I have an old boat that sat for a long time. I emtied the gas tank, rebuilt the carb, replaced the fuel pump, and replaced the oil plugs and filters. The motor runs great and starts on the first crank.

I dont have any experience with outdrives so I pulled the lower unit off as per some guys on this sites urging and checked the gimbal bearing and was planning on replacing the shift cable. I didnt feel comfortable putting it back in so I paid a local mechanic to replace everything instead of doing it myself.

So here is the rub. The mechanic reattached the bellows, aligned the bearing, and replaced the shift cable. I take the boat out for a test run and it overheats and the throttle gets stuck in reverse and is hard to shift back so I pull back in to shore take it back and I had bought the wrong intake hose and he hadnt caught it. No problem. Lets fix it. He pulls the lower unit off again and replaces the hose and adjusts the shift cable.

When I pick it up he says he "bypassed the safety on the shift cable so it wont die". Take it out for the second test run no overheating but when I put it in reverse it does not go back to neutral. I call him and he is very helpful on the phone and tells me how to adjust and I try but to no avail. We get it back to a lake closer and the mechanic comes out to the lake to help us. He works on the adjustments and we cant fix it.

His new diagnosis is that we broke a tooth somewhere in the lower unit which sounds reasonable. But my question is do you all think that the bypass would have caused this? He is a really good guy but I am wondering now if I should find a new mechanic. He missed the hose but I was the one that bought that and he said he had a helper install that so he never caught it. And now I wonder if this is not just par for the course or if by bypassing the safety we made a small problem big.

Sorry its so long.

Thanks,

Chris

 

[zbnutcase]

Re: Mechanic question

Time for a new MARINE mechanic. No Tech worth his salt would bypass the shift interrupt system.

 

[nola mike]

Re: Mechanic question

He pulls the lower unit off again and replaces the hose and adjusts the shift cable.

he should have replaced that cable with the drive off. was it stalling going into gear before?

When I pick it up he says he "bypassed the safety on the shift cable so it wont die". Take it out for the second test run no overheating but when I put it in reverse it does not go back to neutral.

that's what the switch is there for.

His new diagnosis is that we broke a tooth somewhere in the lower unit which sounds reasonable. But my question is do you all think that the bypass would have caused this?

yes, + a bad lower shift cable.

 

[fossill]

Re: Mechanic question

It's so called mechanics like this that wind up costing a guy a pile of money in needless repairs and screwups and give the rest of the guys in the industry a bad name. That function shift interupt switch is basic knowledge for a marine mechanic. Sounds like you found a "hacker".

 

[chris75h]

Re: Mechanic question

Time for a new MARINE mechanic. No Tech worth his salt would bypass the shift interrupt system.

Well his sign says Marine mechanic but I see what you are saying. I was afraid that this might be the case.

 

[chris75h]

Re: Mechanic question

he should have replaced that cable with the drive off. was it stalling going into gear before?


that's what the switch is there for.



yes, + a bad lower shift cable.

yes it was stalling before we replaced the shift cable.

 

[chris75h]

Re: Mechanic question

It's so called mechanics like this that wind up costing a guy a pile of money in needless repairs and screwups and give the rest of the guys in the industry a bad name. That function shift interupt switch is basic knowledge for a marine mechanic. Sounds like you found a "hacker".

I really dont think he was malicious in this at all. But, I see what you are saying I guess I learned a hard lesson here.

Thanks to everyone for the replies.

 

[fossill]

Re: Mechanic question

No I'm sure he had good intentions. Trouble is he doesn't know what he is doing. All it more than likely need was to properly adjust the system according to best practices and procedures as established by the manufacturer, key word here being...properly.

 

[Steven D]

Re: Mechanic question

Will it shift out of reverse with the motor not running or running on muffs? The shift interrupt is to allow it to come out of gear with a load on the prop, no interrupt no come out of gear.

 

[NHGuy]

Re: Mechanic question

If he is acting so reasonable see if you can get him to reattach the interrupt and set the shift correctly. Basically the interrupt briefly kills the spark to allow the gears to unload and drop into neutral. Otherwise you end up stuck in whatever gear you are in til the engine is off.