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2004 Merc 15 HP 4Stroke- Will not go forward - reverse is ok

J

JanS48

New member
Greetings everyone

When I shift into forward nothing happens, the neutral position seems ok, and reverse works. With the motor off the boat, and putting the shift lever in forward, then spinning the prop by hand (forward) I hear a clicking noise. If I attempt the same while in the reverse position the prop will engage the motor. Is this something that happens?

In looking at the parts diagram, I suspect the problem will be the clutch mechanism. I'm an accomplished mechanic but not very familiar with this outboard, is there a trick to getting the gear assy. apart? I watched a U-toob where the guy pried a plate off of what looked like a 'dog' gear but it didn't go past that.

Can someone shed a little lite on how to proceed?

Issue 2 - 4 years ago I removed the lower leg and installed a 5" extension kit, it was a fairly straight-forward installation. However now in attempting to remove the lower leg it appears very very frozen. I managed to get the joint between the upper leg and the extension piece to move slightly but am un-able to lower it. Is it possible the drive shaft spline is frozen into the motor? Does that happen often? Any advice would be most welcome.

3rd the motor being an 04 model is getting up there in years, am I at end-of-life for this motor?

Thanks-in-advance

Jan
 
Check the shift shaft adjustment. Mid section area . On shift shaft. You would have had to undo it to get the drive off originally
 
JanS48 said:
Greetings everyone

When I shift into forward nothing happens, the neutral position seems ok, and reverse works. With the motor off the boat, and putting the shift lever in forward, then spinning the prop by hand (forward) I hear a clicking noise. If I attempt the same while in the reverse position the prop will engage the motor. Is this something that happens?

In looking at the parts diagram, I suspect the problem will be the clutch mechanism. I'm an accomplished mechanic but not very familiar with this outboard, is there a trick to getting the gear assy. apart? I watched a U-toob where the guy pried a plate off of what looked like a 'dog' gear but it didn't go past that.

Can someone shed a little lite on how to proceed?

Issue 2 - 4 years ago I removed the lower leg and installed a 5" extension kit, it was a fairly straight-forward installation. However now in attempting to remove the lower leg it appears very very frozen. I managed to get the joint between the upper leg and the extension piece to move slightly but am un-able to lower it. Is it possible the drive shaft spline is frozen into the motor? Does that happen often? Any advice would be most welcome.

3rd the motor being an 04 model is getting up there in years, am I at end-of-life for this motor?

Thanks-in-advance

Jan
Click to expand...

UPDATE...
I have since successfully removed the lower leg, the problem being the SS-studs were very frozen in the add-on-extension.

To answer one reviewer - the shift shaft was disconnected - that was not an issue. Regarding that, when moved completely down (reverse) all seems ok, in moving to neutral (mid-way) that also seems fine, however when moving to the top position (forward) the prop just 'skips'
It is for that reason I suspect the clutch mechanism.

Bottom line at this point is: How do I get the lower gearbox apart?

thanks
Jan
 
You need to remove the carrier (prop shaft) and the impeller housing and bearing carrier (driveshaft). With the prop shaft carrier removed you can pull out the reverse gear thrust washer and thrust bearing. Remove the shift shaft Then you have to remove the pinion nut and pinion gear to pull the driveshaft out. Then you can pull out the prop shaft and forward gear.

If you suspect the clutch dog is slipping then most likely the forward gear where the clutch dog mates is damaged as well. The forward gear has to be bought as a set. It comes with the pinion gear
 
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