repair shops fault or just age?

[freddyray21]

1972 Mercruiser 120 hp three years ago had the dealer replace my lower shift cable. They routed it wrong and the flywheel tore it up and they had to do it again later. Have not had any problem with it until last outing of this season. Wife took the boat out and running down the river motor revved up like it was out of gear. She brought the throttle down to neutral put it back in gear and all was fine until she got back to the ramp and realized she did not have reverse. I just had the chance to look at it today and found the piece of the lower shift cable that screws into the bell housing was completely out. On inspection I found the threads in the bell housing stripped out. Did the repair shop cross thread it or did it just go from age? If you think it's the repair shop I will call them and see if they will do anything about it. I guess it can be bored and heli coiled?

 

[Haut Medoc]

Re: repair shops fault or just age?

Hard to say what caused it......
You could probably heli coil if you can find the right one....
Personally, I would just get another bell housing off of ebay.....
They are not as scarce as you might think.....

 

[Bondo]

Re: repair shops fault or just age?

three years ago had the dealer replace my lower shift cable.

Ayuh,....

A 3 Year warranty is abit of a Stretch ain't it,..??

They don't even sell the original lower cable for that drive,...
It needs to be drilled, tapped,+ Updated to the Alpha style cable......
It's installed for the aft end....

 

[bomar76]

Re: repair shops fault or just age?

Let me clarify this....
You want a 3+ year warranty on repairs to a 36 year old outdrive?

 

[jerryjerry05]

Re: repair shops fault or just age?

Depends on what they repaired(they will never warranty it)If they installed the new style cable it should have never came out loose maybe but not out.
Post a few pics of what you have.Jerry

 

[freddyray21]

Re: repair shops fault or just age?

Let me clarify this....
You want a 3+ year warranty on repairs to a 36 year old outdrive?

I am not looking for a warranty per se, but merely asking if you thought it was something they did and should I pursue it. Working on outboards as a hobby I am the first to not blame the shop. I am not as familiar with the cables on the I/O so though I would ask the experts here is it is possible that age was the factor at work here. If it is possible then I would chalk it up to age and go on. If I am told it is not possible (and I don't think I am hearing that) then I would speak to the shop. It would not be a three year warrantly in any event as they had to redo their work last year for their failure to properly route the cable the first time. The cable they installed screws in from the stern towards the bow. The threads in the housing are completely gone. I can get a housing locally at the junk yard here and replace it.

 

[Haut Medoc]

Re: repair shops fault or just age?

I am not looking for a warranty per se, but merely asking if you thought it was something they did and should I pursue it. Working on outboards as a hobby I am the first to not blame the shop. I am not as familiar with the cables on the I/O so though I would ask the experts here is it is possible that age was the factor at work here. If it is possible then I would chalk it up to age and go on. If I am told it is not possible (and I don't think I am hearing that) then I would speak to the shop. It would not be a three year warrantly in any event as they had to redo their work last year for their failure to properly route the cable the first time. The cable they installed screws in from the stern towards the bow. The threads in the housing are completely gone. I can get a housing locally at the junk yard here and replace it.

That's your best course of action, IMO.....
You will never know the cause, but I would say that the threads being gone is unlikely unless the boat was moored every summer, especially in salt water......
I would check to see if the bellows needs to be replaced at this time as well.......

 

[bomar76]

Re: repair shops fault or just age?

I am not looking for a warranty per se, but merely asking if you thought it was something they did and should I pursue it.

No matter how you word it, the truth still is you are looking for an angle to get the shop to warrrant work on a 36 year old drive ( and gawd only knows what kinda shape that thing is in) with repairs that were done 3 years ago.

 

[Haut Medoc]

Re: repair shops fault or just age?

I agree^^^^^ move on you are not getting a freebee....

 

[jaxnjil]

Re: repair shops fault or just age?

if it threads the way you said it' the new style and they messed up the threads when they taped it. if done properly there is no reason, not to expect to last for years. not 3
this is a 1/4 pipe thread with no taper and takes a speical straight tap.
i dont think you can find a heli coil to for this.

 

[Fishermark]

Re: repair shops fault or just age?

I agree with jaxnjil that someone probably messed up the threads when they tapped it for the new style of cable. Now was that "someone" the shop? Hard to tell. But it seems to be a common mistake. There is even a web site that I often refer to that advises using a tapered tap and simply stopping "4 threads short of the end of the tap."

If you end up buying a used bell housing and you need to tap it yourself, be sure to get the right tap. It can be hard to find anywhere locally, I had to order mine online. It needs to be a 1/4-18NPS (National Pipe Straight). NOT 1/4-18NPT (National Pipe Taper).

 

[chiefalen]

Re: repair shops fault or just age?

The way i read your post was last year they redid the cable.

So it's less than a year old.

Than i would bring it to them and ask them what they think.

What you have to lose?

Be nice.

 

[freddyray21]

Re: repair shops fault or just age?

No matter how you word it, the truth still is you are looking for an angle to get the shop to warrrant work on a 36 year old drive ( and gawd only knows what kinda shape that thing is in) with repairs that were done 3 years ago.

If you were to read my posting you would find that they had to replace the cable again last year as they failed to route it correctly the first time. So the repairs are only one year old. With normal maintenance and I do take care of the boat the boat has been relatively trouble free for years. The only two times it has had to be towed in were when it was ran out of gas and neither of those times was I driving it. I'll never understand why a working gas gauge can't be read. The boat it not left in the water more than a weekend at a time. The outdrive and bellows are in very good condition. I think you miss the point entirely. Here are pics of the boat. This is a well maintained boat not a piece of junk.

 

[Don S]

Re: repair shops fault or just age?

Basically, the threads corroded out of the bellhousing. Since you don't trust that shop, find a new shop and get it fixed. OR, get a manual and fix it yourself.
Here's a link to the OEM service manual you can download for free. All 1GB of it.
http://www-alt.mercurymarine.com/mnetdata/SERVICE/CRUISER/Servmanl/01/cover.pdf

 

[freddyray21]

Re: repair shops fault or just age?

thanks Don I am not looking for the shop to fix it unless they caused it. In essence my question was

either the shop caused it

or it's from age.

All the guessing about my motives is superfluous. The majority thinks it's age and I am okay with that. As far as trusting the shop at this point they have had to redo too much work on this boat. I have taken to working on it myself now for the last couple of years due to that.

 

[Don S]

Re: repair shops fault or just age?

either the shop caused it

or it's from age.

With a 72 boat, probably a little of both. but I would bet that most goes to years of corrostion on the threads, along with too many times being changed on an old bellhousing.

 

[bomar76]

Re: repair shops fault or just age?

If you were to read my posting you would find that they had to replace the cable again last year as they failed to route it correctly the first time. So the repairs are only one year old. With normal maintenance and I do take care of the boat the boat has been relatively trouble free for years. The only two times it has had to be towed in were when it was ran out of gas and neither of those times was I driving it. I'll never understand why a working gas gauge can't be read. The boat it not left in the water more than a weekend at a time. The outdrive and bellows are in very good condition. I think you miss the point entirely. Here are pics of the boat. This is a well maintained boat not a piece of junk.

Reading comprehension was never a problem for me.
Still sounds like a fishing expedition for an excuse to blame the shop.

 

[freddyray21]

Re: repair shops fault or just age?

Reading comprehension was never a problem for me.

I couldn't tell