Volvo Penta will not go into gear.

[Bob1516]

My elderly parents are about 300 miles from me on vacation and their 1994 Celebrity boat with a 5.7 Chevy engine and a Volvo Penta Dp-C1 lower unit, will not go into drive. It goes into reverse but not forward. When they first put it in the water it worked fine but the first time they put in neutral it would not go back into forward. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. They have owned the boat for about 15 years and never had any trouble before. We are both very capable of working on it just don't know where to start.

 

[rfdfirecaptain]

Re: Volvo Penta will not go into gear.

Well, I’m not a marine mechanic, but I do own a boat with a DP-D1 outdrive and I have had the same problem. I was stuck in the water and had to be towed to the dock to make repairs. The tow bill was $1,200 and the repair cost was 25 cents. So relax and don’t panic. It’s probably something very simple.

Question: Does it “go in reverse” or is it stuck in reverse? That is two different problems. If it “goes in reverse” that would indicate that your shifter cable is working, at least in one direction.

Anyway here is what I would do. Haul it out of the water. Remove the aft cover on the outdrive upper gear housing and check the shift cable connections. Look for a sheered cotter pin (as was my case). Mine has 3 cotter pins back there. Have someone work the shifter cable back and forth while you observe the movement of connections. Look for anything that would prevent the shifter cable from properly engaging the gear shift lever in both forward and reverse positions. If that’s all working fine then obviously it’s something from your gear shift lever down into your gear housing. At that point you need help from Don S. trouble shooting this thing. If he can get you the shop manual on it and you have some ability you can tear this thing down and get her going again in no time. Trust me on this… I’m proof of what Don’s help plus a 125 piece craftsman tools set and my ability to follow Don’s directions can accomplish. I’ll keep an eye on this thread over the next few days just in case. I have a DP-C manual I can send you if Don doesn’t jump in this thread. Good luck!

 

[Bob1516]

Re: Volvo Penta will not go into gear.

Good news!!! I was giving some serious thought to driving down to the lake after work yesterday and helping dad with the boat. My entire family is down there and one of my twin girls was having trouble and really wanted me there. That being said, dad called about 10:30 and said he went in to town and spoke to a mechanic who gave him a couple of suggestions and it worked. Apparently when dad and I were repairing the trim cylinders last week we had raised the lower unit too high and caused a shaft to pull out of a spline. He did not go into great detail but he said he removed the cover and in about 10 minutes had it repaired. All is well now.

Thanks for the help rfdfirecaptain. I really appreciate the time you took to post some help. Have a great 4th of July.

Bob S.