mercruiser 888 shift cable help

[jjohanson]

Hello, I just finishing doing my gimbal bearing, ujoint and all bellows and just finishing reattaching the drive housing. I reattached my shift cable that I had to remove for the shift cable bellows and now im having problems with going in gear. After about an hour of so I can get the boat to start up and be in neutral. It will not go into reverse but it will go into forward but wont switch back out to neutral. Before i did any of the work, shifting was perfect can anyone help me with this?

 

[fishrdan]

Re: mercruiser 888 shift cable help

Did you adjust the lower shift cable properly after reinstalling it? Sounds like you need to go through the adjustment procedure. (Look at some old threads for a link to 4share for the manual)

If the lower shift cable is binding, you'll have problems shifting, can kill the engine too. Even if it was shifting perfect before the bellows work, the cable could have been kinked during the work and now have problems. Disconnect the lower shift cable from it's anchor points and push-pull on it, is it buttery smooth or binding?

 

[jjohanson]

Re: mercruiser 888 shift cable help

Ill try and find the adjustment procedures but im not sure which models are similar to mine. I disconnected the cable from the anchor points and its moving smoothly. Im gonna take a look at the neutral cut off switch right now. correct me if im wrong but this is what allows it to switch back to neutral right? and the other cable is for reverse correct? Sorry about the dumb questions this is my first boat and im learning as i go. Thanks for the help so far I appreciate it

 

[fishrdan]

Re: mercruiser 888 shift cable help

Im gonna take a look at the neutral cut off switch right now. correct me if im wrong but this is what allows it to switch back to neutral right? and the other cable is for reverse correct?

The shift interrupt switch momentarily cuts the engine's ignition while coming out of gear, to unmesh the drive's gears and allow going into neutral. (There's also a nuetral safety switch so you can't start the engine in gear, it's in the shifter.) If the lower cable is mis-adjusted, the shift interrupt switch can be bound or activating at the wrong time, killing the engine. The lower shift cable controls, forward, reverse and neutral, you have to run through the adjustment procedure to get all of the cables adjusted properly.

Manual #2 covers the 888.

 

[jjohanson]

Re: mercruiser 888 shift cable help

I pulled the interrupt switch and one of the tabs has broken off. trying to find a replacement and i see they are not made anymore so im going to try and solder it back on as a temporary fix until I can find another. After this ill try and go through the adjustment procedure again. Thanks for your help

 

[fishrdan]

Re: mercruiser 888 shift cable help

I pulled the interrupt switch and one of the tabs has broken off. trying to find a replacement and i see they are not made anymore so im going to try and solder it back on as a temporary fix until I can find another. After this ill try and go through the adjustment procedure again. Thanks for your help

Yes, it's NLA. I cobbled up a replacement switch for my MC-1 and it works prefect. Do some searching through the archives as I posted up the switch P/N that I used, it required making a small adapter bracket though.....

 

[jjohanson]

Re: mercruiser 888 shift cable help

Is it possible that when I put the drive housing back on that the shift got messed up somehow? Because ive gone through the adjustment steps for the shift cable and I still cant get reverse to work

 

[jjohanson]

Re: mercruiser 888 shift cable help

No matter how I adjust it, with the throttle in forward or reverse the drive spins in forward motion

 

[stonyloam]

Re: mercruiser 888 shift cable help

Is it possible that when I put the drive housing back on that the shift got messed up somehow? Because ive gone through the adjustment steps for the shift cable and I still cant get reverse to work

Sure is! Sounds like the shift slide at the end of the cable is not properly engaging the upper shift shaft lever. There is a little wheel on the underside of the lever that is supposed to be between the two arms of the slide. It kind of sounds like the slide is in front of the arm so when it moves back to engage forward it pushes the lever into forward gear, but will not pull the lever forward into N or R. Here is a nice Ziggy photo that shows it: http://www.google.com/imgres?um=1&h...=142&start=0&ndsp=23&ved=1t:429,r:10,s:0,i:94

 

[jjohanson]

Re: mercruiser 888 shift cable help

Sure is! Sounds like the shift slide at the end of the cable is not properly engaging the upper shift shaft lever. There is a little wheel on the underside of the lever that is supposed to be between the two arms of the slide. It kind of sounds like the slide is in front of the arm so when it moves back to engage forward it pushes the lever into forward gear, but will not pull the lever forward into N or R. Here is a nice Ziggy photo that shows it: http://www.google.com/imgres?um=1&h...=142&start=0&ndsp=23&ved=1t:429,r:10,s:0,i:94

This is exactly what it was. Pulled the drive back off and correct this. Re-adjusted the shift cable and working perfectly. Thanks for all your help guys I appreciate it ill be on the water tomorrow!