Merc 260 Cutout Switch Question

"I am a new boater. I see the

"I am a new boater. I see the cut-out switch on the wiring diagram. Is it supposed to shut down the engine everytime I go from gear into neutral (from Drive to neutral, or Reverse to neutral)? It is pretty tough to get into my slip, when the engine dies everytime. I read several posts that refer to this switch. Is something wrong with mine, or is it supposed to cut off everytime?"

"It's just supposed to kil

"It's just supposed to kill the spark briefly so shifting isn't too hard on the gearcase. Killing the motor is dangerous and the manufacturers would be facing huge liability if it caused people to be hurt or killed.

Yours probably needs adjustment if the motor dies every time you shift. How fast do you go from forward or reverse to neutral? If you take too much time, it will cause the motor to stop completely."

"That is probably it! I have t

"That is probably it! I have tried to baby it, meaning I am shifting from gear into neutral very very slowly. The boat runs great (21' Sea Ray Seville), except for this problem. But, the engine shuts down every time that I go into neutral.
So, it cuts the spark briefly, but the engine then recovers and continues to run?"

replace the shift cable when i

replace the shift cable when it gets stiff it holds the shift switch in to long

"I have a 4.3 Mercruiser with

"I have a 4.3 Mercruiser with an Alpha 1 stern-drive. I only use the the boat to fish salt water. It had been sitting 9 months in a garage before I started it for the fishing season. When I started the boat, the engine would shut down once I moved the shift select to forward or reverse. Neutral was OK. I tried to adjust the cable with no effects. It ended up to be the shift cable to the lower unit must have had corrossion. I diconnected the cable from the bracket on top of the engine and worked the cable back and forth. It works like a charm once again."