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Ford 302Mercrusier 888 shifting problems HELP

badgers_03

New member
"Had the boat on the water tod

"Had the boat on the water today, pulling skiers, running fine. Then all of a sudden heard something give in the engine comparment and the boat will not shift into gear now. Motor runs fine, you can push the throttle forward or reverse, but the nothing. The prop does not spin at all. I am used to hearing it shift into gear, but nothing now. You can see the cable on top of the motor, and when shift the throttle, you can see that it is shifting on top (moving part taht is) on top, but not going into gear and the engine just rev's up. I have know idea what to check or what the problem might be. Any guidence would be great."
 
heard something give??? did it

heard something give??? did it heat up? what sort of noise? if you can see the input shaft behind the engine see if it spins. drive coupler maybe?
 
"By give do you mean like bang

"By give do you mean like bang? If so,I'd say the top of the lower unit driveshaft sheared off right where the O ring fits. Did the engine race up after the noise? Is the engine still receiving water from the outdrive? If not this just could be what has happened. If there is still water getting to the engine then you could have broken the pinion gear or you may get lucky and find a problem with the linkage to the shift dog in the lower unit. The water pump in the lower uint is a good tell tale of where the damage is. If the pump is working the driveshaft is still turning at least past the pump impeller. Do you know if the drive has hit anything in the past? If it has it's a good chance the drive shaft is broken. If you had water in the drive it could have locked up the drive. Lots of things can cause this but I'd say the lower unit is the problem. There is a place on the web discountmarine I think. Thier in the south somewhere LA,Mississippi something like that. If you do need repair,they are VERY reasonable and have a warranty. If your case is ok they build it and have it back in a week.(if you want to spring for the extra shipping)} These people have treated me well. Good luck."
 
"Thanks for the input, the low

"Thanks for the input, the lower unit did hit a rock about a month ago, which bent the stag on the bottom, but that was it, the bottom of the lower unti did not get toched. Or that is what it seemd like. I did get a slight bend on my prop, but that was it. Which we got fixed the stag that is and everything seemed to work fine up until yesterday. When we where trying to pull up a skier yesterday is when this happened. So basically when we had a load on the motor. However we had it out for a few weekend after this and everything worked fine. Now yesterday when this happened the motor did rev up and then I just backed off the throttle and put it into neutral. Then tried to put it back in gear and we had nothing. The motor would just rev up and that was it. We trimmed up the motor to see if the prop was Turing when we put it into gear, and it was not, all that would happen would be that the motor would rev up each time we tried to put this in forward or reverse, which it did go into. I do have a friend that is a master mechanic, but not a boat one. He said that if I get him the manual on this we could probably trouble shoot this. Is there a way to try and pin down the problem? Or a way to see exactly what broke. Would we be able to tell if we pulled the lower unit off and if so, what should we be looking for when we do this? With the boat out of the water, and put into gear I can hear something grabbing, and it does lock up to a point, but if you turn it with a little muscle, you can then turn the prop, so it does not lock up completely, meaning that it will not turn at all. When they say lock up do the mean it will not turn at all or do they mean it will stop turning, but if you give a little push then it will turn? Also every thing on the outside of the lower unit is intact, in fact it looks almost brand new. Something internal is defiantly wrong, but just not sure what to look for or how to pin down the problem. When we do pin down the problem is this something that we can get from our local marina ordered? or is there a better way to do this. I guess what I am asking is, when pulling off the lower unit will this be something that we will see immediately and be able to fix? So what ever guidance you guys can give that would be great.. The motor was not heating up at all, but we did not have it running for very long after this happened since we could not go anywhere until a boater came and towed us back to the landing.

Thanks"
 
"One more thing, if I can see

"One more thing, if I can see the drive coupler moving, then what, if it is not moving then what?

Thanks"
 
"shaft coming out of coupler.

"shaft coming out of coupler. if it spins with engine, problem is in drive. if it doesn't, coupler is bad. coupler will usually make a ratcheting noise when bad. gearsets are very noisy when they go. other possibility is driveshaft broken. you never said if it was pumping water."
 
"Thanks, I will check these.

"Thanks, I will check these. I appericste the help as well. I have been doing a litle reading in here and found a question. Being new to boats, I have stared this a few time out of the water and without the muffs, stupid i know now. If the impeller broke could this have caused it as well to stop moving, meaning forward and reverse. If so what is the easiest way to check this, and what do i pull off or unbolt?"
 
"Scott,
When you put it in fo


"Scott,
When you put it in forward gear and try to turn the prop it should not turn in one direction and make a clicking noise when turned in the other direction. If you can turn the prop with some force by hand in the direction that it doesn't want to turn then the driveshaft in the lower unit has a problem. Even if the coupler was bad I don't think you could turn the prop if everything else was ok. So. Take the lower unit off the drive. You are will need to remove the whole drive at some point if what I think has happened did happen. When the lower uint is removed oil is going to leak from the upper unit. I found that a golf tee is perfect for stopping this. Just put the tee in the oil hole. You can find the tee at any local golf course. (just trying to keep your humor up) If you find the top of the driveshaft has no splines on it, the thing is shot. This is where the other part of the unit needs to be removed. If the shaft did break the top of it is still in the gear in the upper case. Keep in mind this has a double seal where it enters the upper gear. There is a good chance this seal is damaged. Even if you can remove the broken part,the seals should be replaced. There is no way to know if they will reseal on a new shaft. Before I go on anymore,why don't you pull the lower off and see what gives. I'll watch for news of what you find. Should only take a few minutes to remove. You do need a big allen key to remove the trim tab and a bolt in the rear of the lower unit under that tab. Take care removing the nuts on the side. Do not round off the nuts. On another note, I had one break just going across the lake with no load. I have been known to hit a few things is shallow water. It doesn't take much to weaken the shaft. Where it broke is where the O ring fits. Good luck."
 
"Sounds good I will do this or

"Sounds good I will do this or try myself today. If I can't get this off, I will wait until tomorrow after work and take it to my friend (the mechanic for help). One note to this is when I put this into forward gear, or push the throttle in the boat forward I can turn the prop clockwise and it makes a clicking noise in the lower unit area, kind of where it connects to the upper unit. When I turn it counterclockwise, it is harder to turn, but I hear, what I believe to be the coupler, by the transom turning, but again this is a bit tougher to turn this way. So if this is the case what do you think broke and what part could I possibly need?"
 
"As I have read this a bit slo

"As I have read this a bit slower I see that you think the drive shaft is broken, correct? When I pull off the lower unit, the shaft will be in one piece or two, correct? Also if it is in one piece with the spines shot, then I will need to replace this, right? Or if it is broken in two, with part of it still in the upper, then I will have to get this out as well as get new seals for this, correct? Is this an easy job to replace? and is this something two people who are mechanically savvy should be able to do, because every time I go to the local marina I get killed in the wallet, I should have went into that line of work, anyways let me know what you think and I really do appreciate all the help, these forums are great..."
 
"Scott,
Correct on the drives


"Scott,
Correct on the driveshaft being broken. I doubt the splines a striped. I've never seen that happen but that doesn't mean it couldn't. The outdrive does require special tools to take them apart and get them back together. These tools are not cheap. If I remember right the upper needs to be taken apart to replace the seals. I'll check it out.
If you hear noise in the area of the coupler when turning the prop the drive may be ok. If you look in the front of the outdrive you should be able to see the driveshaft from the lower unit. If you can connect it to a hose start it and see if the shaft is turning. It will turn even when it is not in gear if it is not broken. If you look behind the engine inside the boat you should see the driveshaft to the upper unit. See if it is turning. Do this fast because if either are not turning there is no water getting to the engine.
When you remove the lower you'll know for sure and this is not a hard thing to remove and install. The coupler on the other hand needs the engine removed to replace. There is a place that will reseal the upper for under three hundred bucks. Its a very good price for that repair. I do not know about the lower if it needs a drive shaft but I just sent one off that needed a new gear set and that is going to be under six hundred with the gears and all resealed. Again,that is a very good price. At those prices it is not worth my time to screw with doing the work myself. As you said the marina is very expensive. The net is a wonderful thing for finding another way of getting drives repaired. I'm not trying to step on any toes here. If there is someone that has this good of deal on this site they should list it. This site is here to so poeple can find help after all. anyway,I'll watch for more on your problem."
 
"when you get to the point of

"when you get to the point of removing the drive, I strongly suggest you take it off in one piece. you can do it half at a time, but much easier to deal with splitting, reassembling off the boat. it all has to come off anyway.once its off you can look into the coupler with a flashlite. water pump would not affect shifting."
 
"Alright we have a new problem

"Alright we have a new problem or just one that is extending to the old one. I can't get the motor to turn over correctly. I get a clicking sound at first as if something is locked up, after a few cranks of the key, i get it to turn over like once but then it stops and goes back to that clicking. ALso I did see a little smoke coming from under the motor area after I tried to crank it a few time in a row. Could this be from what ever broke and it has now locked things up a bit. As I said it still will turn every onece in a while after turing the key for a bit, but it only turns over onnce then stops. If this is the case then what might be causing this to bind things up so to speak? Thanks bud"
 
"Wow man,
There are two thing


"Wow man,
There are two things that come to mind. One the battery is weak or OR you got the engine hot while runing it without water. The smoke from under the engine is most likely from the starter. It's getting hot. But it could do that from low voltage too. At this point I feel it is best to pull the spark plugs and spray some oil into the cylinders. Charge up the battery or load test it so you know it's ok. The drive wouldn't cause this if the engine was runing after whatever has broken was broken. I sure hope it will free-up. Instead of using the starter try working the crank around with a socket on the crank. Get the oil in it and work the crank forward then back a little then forward until it makes a full turn. Then rotate it a few more times and see how it feels.
This is why I asked about the water pumping. I was concerned about this by the way you said you kept trying to get it to go.
When that drive went so did your water supply to the engine.

Scott, Well,just work it easy and I hope it is not to late. Good luck."
 
take off the drive and see if

take off the drive and see if it turns. don't overdo as you will kill the starter. post when done.
 
"Hey Scott,
Look unless you h


"Hey Scott,
Look unless you have a support for the drive it is not easier to take apart while off the boat. If you have a full shop with all the equipment then yes it is easier to work on. Just putting it on the floor and flipping it over and over removing the nuts and trying to get the trim tab loose flopping the driveshaft all over and getting dirt in the splines and grease all over the floor is no fun. You need a drive support to work on it in one piece. I for some reason do not think you have this tool. Am I correct? I'll watch for news."
 
"Well the good news is that I

"Well the good news is that I got the boat started and the engine idles perfectly, however when looking, from the top of the motor inside the boat I can see the metal rod that looks like it goes to the upper out drive, this is not turning at all when the boat is started. However it does turn when the boat is off and put into forward gear, while manually turning the prop. Also when out of the boat and looking under the lower unit the rod that looks like it goes into the lower unit is not moving either. So if that is the case then based on the earlier post it looks to be the drive shaft or shift lever correct? Or are we still looking at the coupler as well? I guess I will see when pulling off the lower unit. If this is the case do I have to pull the upper unit as well or can I just pull the lower unit and replace this part, along with the O ring that goes on top of the drive shaft. Also when I take off the lower unit is there gaskets that I will need to replace. I see you said something about special tools. Is the job that I currently talked about in need of special tools and if so what are they? IF the coupler was bad would this still turn when you have the boat off and moving the prop which in turn is moving the rod that you can see from inside of the boat? Thanks for all the input guys it is really appreciated!"
 
"Scott,
This is getting to l


"Scott,
This is getting to long. Give me a minute and check ssye04 yaho."
 
"remove the drive(entire&#

"remove the drive(entire) look inside and you will see a stripped coupler. shaft should spin with engine at all times. good news is drive is O.K. bad news is coupler replacement requires engine removal. Not Me, sorry, you are correct. I have a stand. wouldn't want to do it on the floor. seems a guy could easily make a stand out of a little piece of plywood and a saw. always hearing horror stories about problems putting back together on boat. also many times people dont bother with checking u-joints, bellows, etc. if you are going to do your own work, invest a little time and $ so you can do it right. it really does pay off in the end. regards, S,"
 
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