Mercruiser comes out of gear while underway

[allingeneral]

Hi All,

I have a 1989 Sea Ray 220 with a 5.7L Mercruiser and Alpha 1 outdrive. It has worked wonderfully for me for the last two years.

This past weekend, I took the boat out and it worked fine all day, up until the very end of the day. I was cruising along at about 20-22 mph, on plane, enjoying the wind in my face, then suddenly, the engine roared and the boat stopped dead in the water. I almost ate the windshield from the sudden unexpected stop, then grabbed the throttle and pulled it into neutral.

Now, any time there is torque on the system, it drops into neutral. I can take off very slowly and get it up to about 2500 RPM before it happens. If I punch it (as if to pull a skier out of the water), it immediately occurs. I couldn't even run the boat up on the trailer yesterday because it won't stay in gear under load.

Can anyone point me in the right direction as to what the problem may be and how to correct it?

Thanks in advance!
Rick

 

[jerryjerry05]

Re: Mercruiser comes out of gear while underway

Could be the clutch dog is going bad.Or the shift cable is going bad and not letting it into gear all the way.
I'd bet on the dog first.
Drain the oil and check for metal shavings,chunks or shiny metal sheen to the oil.Do that and get back to us.Jerry

 

[Alumarine]

Re: Mercruiser comes out of gear while underway

Are you sure it's actually going into neutral and it's not the prop hub slipping?

 

[JustJason]

Re: Mercruiser comes out of gear while underway

jerryjerry shame on you!!!

allingeneral, pull your prop and check for a spun prop hub first.
and pull your engine cover and look in the back of the bilge for rubber and metal shavings.

 

[Haut Medoc]

Re: Mercruiser comes out of gear while underway

They just don't pop out of gear, in fact they are hard/impossible to get out of gear unless there is no load......
If you do not overheat when this occurs, then I would suspect a spun hub on the prop, a simple fix.....
If you do overheat, then I would suspect the coupler.....
If the clutch dogs were that worn, it wouldn't go into gear at all.....

 

[allingeneral]

Re: Mercruiser comes out of gear while underway

hmmm.. the spun prop sounds like it might be more like it... There's no grinding or anything (and hasn't been prior to this)...and when the torque lets go, it's almost like something is just spinning free. I'll get on it as soon as I get home from work! I have a spare prop...I'll just stick it on there and take it to the water and see what happens!

Thanks for the inputs guys. I'll let you know how it goes.

As for draining the lower unit...it can never hurt to drain and fill with new lube, but I might wait on that until it's time to winterize

 

[allingeneral]

Re: Mercruiser comes out of gear while underway

Well, the prop hub doesn't *look* to be spun. Would it be evident upon visual inspection? I may just have to put the other prop on there and go out and try it.

I went ahead and drained the outdrive and the oil has a little bit of milkiness to it (nothing extreme) and there are no metal shavings at all.

So, still leaning toward the prop hub and will take it to the water and test it in the next day or two with the other prop.

Any other thoughts? Since the oil in the lower unit looks good, then chances are that there's no damage in that area, eh?

 

[JustJason]

Re: Mercruiser comes out of gear while underway

did you pull the prop off and look inside the hub from the back?
did you look in your bilge area yet?

 

[chiefalen]

Re: Mercruiser comes out of gear while underway

In my own inexpert opinion, if it were my boat.

Put the spare prop on, try it on the water.If not fixed and he doesn't overheat than got be the dog.

If he over heats it's the coupler.

Hope it's the prop!

 

[allingeneral]

Re: Mercruiser comes out of gear while underway

did you pull the prop off and look inside the hub from the back?
did you look in your bilge area yet?

Yes, I pulled the prop. It looks good as far as I can tell. The rubber/plastic - whatever it is that holds the outer wheel to the hub - doesn't look to be broken loose in any way. I suppose it could just spin in there without looking broken though...

What am I looking for in the bilge? Metal shavings, I guess huh?

Chief, your plan sounds like what I need to do. I hope it's the prop too!

By the way... Since when does a Senior Chief Petty Officer have two stars? When I was up for Senior, they only got one!

 

[chiefalen]

Re: Mercruiser comes out of gear while underway

Got me on the stars question. I was in the Air Force. The last year and a half i took the flight engineer test passed and flew around the country.

The generals had stars, officers talked, i worked for a living, ha.

And get this they wanted to give me 2 more stripes make me a master, and send me to Andrews and assign me crew chief for air force one. If i re-upped.

I politely turned them down.

 

[allingeneral]

Re: Mercruiser comes out of gear while underway

Alright, so I put the old aluminum propeller on today and it worked... So, the stainless propeller has a spun hub. Can this be repaired, or do I need to buy a whole new prop? If repair is an option - does anyone know of a good place to have it done?

I believe that the prop in question is a QuickSilver SS Right-hand 17 pitch. The part number is 48-16314-17.

Thanks for all your help so far guys. *cheers*

 

[JustJason]

Re: Mercruiser comes out of gear while underway

should be able to be repaired. google prop shops in your area or call a few local dealers and ask them who they use.