Shifting issue

[BenPainter]

I have a 1997 33' Stratos center console with twin Evinrude 225 two strokes. They are the original engines, and with the exception of the amount of smoke they produce have been running fairly well for 3 years. This past Sunday, I took the boat to a local lake to hang out with some friends. Both engines ran just fine on the way out. After sitting for a couple of hours, we were pulling anchor to head to pick up some more friends. I started both engines but noticed something feeling wrong with the starboard engine. After I got it started and tried to put it in forward, it felt like it was not engaging the prop and was very "loose" as in easy to move. This is not normal for this boat as usually the shifters are fairly sticky, and usually have to be muscled a bit to shift. (it felt like when you disengage the shifter so you can rev the engine with it still in neutral). After messing with the shifter and the disengage button, thinking it might have gotten stuck and it would not shift into gear... I realized that the boat was shifting into reverse (very smoothly) whenever I shifted the shifter forward to put it into forward gear. Oddly enough I realized that if I pulled the shifter back, it also went into reverse. So, it will shift into neutral, but will go into reverse if I push the throttle foreward and will also go into reverse if I pull the throttle backwards. I pulled the engine cover and visually saw that when the shifter was in neutral, the lever on the side of the engine was in the middle position. When the shifter was pushed forward, they lever moved one direction, and when the shifter was pulled back, the lever moved in the opposite direction.

I have searched archives and cant find much information with this problem. Any ideas of what this issue might be? I assume the next step would be to pull the lower unit and see how its is shifting by hand, but the boat is in the water and the boat would have to be pulled to pull the lower unit. It would be nice to avoid the cost of that since the bottom has been recently pulled and painted.

Thanks for any information you might have.

Ben

 

[flyingscott]

I would look at the shifter itself and maybe the cable.

 

[BenPainter]

I dont think it can be the shifter or the cable, since the arm on the engine that connects to the lower unit is moving forward and backward whenever the shifter is shifted to either of the three positions...

 

[heypawpaw]

Try disconnecting cable from shift lever and shifting by hand. If it shifts ok problems in cable. If not shifting properly by hand check that there is no slack in linkage between shift lever and shift rod.

 

[BenPainter]

thats a good idea.... I will try that, thanks

 

[BenPainter]

the lower unit is definitely stuck in reverse. When trying to start it, the shifter is in neutral but the lower unit is definitely stuck in reverse. It will try to start but the prop is spinning in reverse when I crank it. Nothing changes when I disconnect the shifter and shift it from the shift arm under the cowling. Something between the shift arm on the side of the engine and the lower unit is broken. I have to drop the outdrive to see how it shifts by hand after it is pulled off...

 

[Chris1956]

The shift rod on my '98 Johnny had developed a binding in the shift rod cover. The saltwater caused the aluminum cover to swell slightly, grabbing the shift rod. Maybe you have something like that?

 

[racerone]

Check shift rod height first.------Then again maybe the shifter fork or other parts in the lower unit are broken. Any water in the lower unit ?

 

[heypawpaw]

What Chris1956 said. You said it was usually sticky and had to muscle it to shift. Had a problem with 1996 88 spl being hard to shift, (if cables were adjusted to make it go into forward it would grind gears and not go into reverse, if adjusted for reverse it would grind when put in forward). It ended up being corrosion buildup on shift rod not letting it slide through rubber o-rings in shift rod cover assembly in lower unit. After having hard time removing rod cover assembly, I used fine sandpaper then steel wool to clean corrosion from shift rod and installed new o-rings and problem solved. Worth checking out when you drop lower unit.