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Boat wont go into gear

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bobbya

New member
"Hi,
I have a 1991 sea ray 2

"Hi,
I have a 1991 sea ray 200 with a 4.3 merc alpha one outdrive.
I was running my boat last weekend at about 25 mph and the boat started to make a grinding noise so i throttled down. About 3 seconds later the boat was not propelling itself anymore so i put it neutral and could not get it to go into gear. about 30 seconds later the boat stalled. I looked at the temp and it was overheated. I brought it back to the dock and let it sit for a couple of hours. I then started it right back up and it would not go into gear. In fact it would stall when i put it into gear, as if something was jammed in the outdrive. Once the motor warmed up a very little bit i was able to put it in gear without it stalling. However, the prop still did not spin. So i took it out of the water. With the boat off and in gear, i was able to spin the prop, i can spin it a bit and then it stops until i give it a little extra push and it spins a bit more. It does not spin as easy as it spins in neutral.

My buddy seems to think its the outdrive. How can i find out more. Could it be something small where i could bring it to a marina and have them fix it for acouple of hundred? What should be my next step. Can i do this myself? I have rebuilt a single cylinder 2 stroke, and always messed around with things but never touched a outdrive.

Any help would be much appreciated.


Hears some background.
I looked at my records the prior owner kept and the gimble bearing was replaced along with bellows about 4 years ago.
last season i replaced the gear oil before winterizing and it looked fine.
I believe the water impeller was replaced acouple of years back when i got it winterized."
 
Ohh one more thing. When i sh

Ohh one more thing. When i shift it into gear it feels completely normal. Not loose or anything different.
 
No GO and a overheat condition

No GO and a overheat condition could mean a broken shaft in the drive . Check the oil level and post the results
 
yeah there is no oil in the ou

yeah there is no oil in the outdrive and i saw metal shavings. I filled it up last season when i was winterizing it. I must have done it wrong and somehow didnt fill it correctly. So where does this leave me?
 
Best case: needs a new shaft

Best case: needs a new shaft and reseal - $1000

Worst case: needs a complete rebuild - $$800 + hard parts $????

Advice: buy a complete new SEI outdrive for $1200 and install it yourself.
 
What does it take to replace o

What does it take to replace one. Does that 1200 include all parts and seals needed?

Is the Merc outdrive any better than the SIE or other aftermarket outdrives?
 
"You, a 5/8 socket, ratchet, 2

"You, a 5/8 socket, ratchet, 2 qts of gear oil.
You put the upper on the lower, fill with oil and install.
Without oil it really dosent matter who made it, but even if you did somehow screw it up and it broke, it`s covered by the 3 year warranty.
Believe it or not."
 
"First of all, thank you for a

"First of all, thank you for all your help.

How do i find out what the best gear ratio will be. Is there a specific one i need to buy? I can't use an Alpha one can I? I believe its the Alpha one new generation.

Thanks again

I will hopefully be running in a couple of weeks, i will let you know how everything goes."
 
"1.84 I believe was used for V

"1.84 I believe was used for V-6`s
GEN II uses 2 nuts and bolts on each side, Alpha`s use 1 nut per side"
 
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