no propulsion in water

[katohutt]

I have been posting and from your good advice have replaced the gimbal bearing and the lower shift cable in my Mercruiser 1 drive. We had a problem with the engine cutting off as soon as we put it in forward or reverse. Well, we fixed that. Thought we had it perfect so we put her in the water. Right off as soon as we went into reverse nothing happened. The prop is turning but the boat was a no go. Tried her in forward but that was a no go also.
Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[katohutt]

Re: no propulsion in water

I am adding after reading old posts that I had a burning rubber smell coming from the engine compartment. I checked the coupler and shaft when we had the drive off and the teeth seemed to be okay. So I lubed everything and put it back together. I did have to align the gimbal bearing and the coupler to get the drive back on.

 

[Don S]

Re: no propulsion in water

The splines are not the problem in the coupler, the rubber has broken free of the splined part of the coupler. As the engine spins and the drive doesn't the friction between the rubber and the metal cause it to burn.
You will also never get the alignment right.
Look on the back of the coupler, the rubber part will not be smooth and rounded anymore.

 

[sea wolf]

Re: no propulsion in water

Sounds like a coupler to me. More than likely, the burning rubber smell was the coupler. You can change out the prop & see what happens as your symptoms can also indicate a spun prop. If not, you need to pull the engine to inspect the coupler. Sorry.

 

[sea wolf]

Re: no propulsion in water

Don beat me by 4 minutes.

 

[katohutt]

Re: no propulsion in water

You guys are great- The reason I'm so confused about the coupler is that the shaft and the prop were turning when we did all the adjustments out of the water, put the boat in the water to do final adjustments and it went in gear and the prop turned but not enough to get any real motion. The motor reved and there was a burning smell, which we also smelled out of the water but thought it was grease on the engine, so we shut her down and came back home.

 

[Bondo]

Re: no propulsion in water

Don beat me by 4 minutes.

Ayuh,...... Don usually beats Me by 4 Seconds..........

The reason I'm so confused about the coupler is that the shaft and the prop were turning when we did all the adjustments out of the water,

Ayuh,....

It's a frictional loss,.... Everything still Turns,....But it's not connected Solidly....

That's the Burning Rubber Smell...

 

[katohutt]

Re: no propulsion in water

So the coupler it is --Thanks for your help. I'm sure I'll be back.