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No shifting,no water flow

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homerl

Regular Contributor
I have a 1986 chris craft scorpion 187 with the 305ci motor.Coming back on the lake the waves picked up,little rough to say the least.All of a sudden lost speed.Throttle cable came out of shift housing.Reached around behind,was able to hold the cable enough to use speed handle.
Little while later engine reved up,turned the key off as quick as possible,but no for/rev.Was not far from shore and paddled in.
Brought boat back home,put on the ears,temporarily put cable back in position(one cover off the back of the control lever missing).
Started motor noticed right away water not circulating,and still no for/rev,shut off right away.Temperature of the motor was ok according to gauge earlier on the lake.
Any one have any ideas?Thanks in advance.:confused:
 
behind the motor, it got to come out. When you shift it moves a arm on the motor that arm moves another cable. That cable is the lower shift cable.

That lower cable can be disconnected from the arm and you can manually shift the drive by pushing and pulling on the lower cable.

Try doing what i just posted, and while your back there do you smell rubber see any small rubber pieces in the bilge ?

Post back don't do anything yet except what i just posted.
 
Just took the doghouse off and looked in the bilge with a flash light no sign of rubber or smell and the bilge hose that is white is clean.
Next thing to take out access panel underneath head rests and find where that shift cable linkage is.Thanks.
 
Nope, start at the notor where the cables connect.
1 Check the oil level and condition in the drive.
2 shift into fwd and try to turn the prop counterclockwise and watch the shaft where it enters the motor,shaft turns= coupler bad, shaft dosent turn= drive problem
 
bt doctur,I have no help right now.What I did do was put the shift lever in gear and there is some resistance in both for/ rev.Put the ears back on started the motor and when running it stalls going into either gear right away,but no grinding sounds or clunks.This all started while I was reaching behind the shifter trying to get the throttle to speed up on the lake.
 
shift interrupt might be stalling the motor.
or it sounds like you might need an outdrive. take the top cap off and look inside. 3/8" 12 point socket or combination wrench
see what the gears look like

check your pm's if you end up needing a drive
 
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hysat,when I look in under the cap what am I looking for?This will only give me access to the upper drive doesn't it?
 
if you see a gear like this... it's bad
331237362.jpg
 
removed the top cap,letting the oil drain from the bottom plug.Very clean so far but very slow draining.Did notice when I turned the prop nothing was turning under the drive cap.Will report back tommorrow.Thanks all.
 
homerl said:
removed the top cap,letting the oil drain from the bottom plug.Very clean so far but very slow draining.Did notice when I turned the prop nothing was turning under the drive cap.Will report back tommorrow.Thanks all.
Click to expand...

with the top cap off and rotating the prop with the shift in neutral this is correct.


I would disable the ignition so engine won't start and crank engine with the cap off to see if the gear in the picture is rotating ..

with no water pump and prop action this is what I would expect.
 
Sorry ,I meant when I turned the prop by hand I had put it in forward,there is resistance,but I was able to turn it.
 
homerl said:
Sorry ,I meant when I turned the prop by hand I had put it in forward,there is resistance,but I was able to turn it.
Click to expand...

with that statement I would say the drive needs to be disassembled..with the oil condition it is possible it is not a major repair .
 
Just did further checking,with the top cap off and turning the prop by hand in gear.The inner race on the shaft is not turning(meaning the other half,outer race is in the cover).Having said that,both gears in the top end are in good condition.
That was the gear that hystat shows,in very good condition.What is the best way to remove the lower half as I believe now that must be where the problem is.Thanks for any further help.
 
Is it possible that when the throttle cable came out of the control box,and I was trying to speed the boat up,I might of hit the shift cable and accidentally pulled the cable to reverse while in forward?It was while doing this the motor seemed to kick out of gear and rev up.At that time you could only reach around behind and try and feel what you were doing.
 
homerl said:
Is it possible that when the throttle cable came out of the control box,and I was trying to speed the boat up,I might of hit the shift cable and accidentally pulled the cable to reverse while in forward?It was while doing this the motor seemed to kick out of gear and rev up.At that time you could only reach around behind and try and feel what you were doing.
Click to expand...

if you went from fwd to reverse rapidly when this shift cable messed up it is very possible this is why the drive is damaged...
 
Sorry guys but was looking at bt's drawing and just wondering what couples the upper drive to the lower drive?Thanks
 
Gentlemen,just separated the lower unit from the upper and I have a question.#15 on the drawing says drive shaft assembly.Now I'm looking at the lower drive and the drive shaft sits up about 8" from the water pump,but the end of the shaft that goes into the upper looks broken clean.No splines,threads nothing.What do you think?Just wondering the best way to remove upper drive.I'm thinking the piece of lower shaft must be stuck up there.Thanks
 
Now I have dropped the upper half and pulled out the main drive shaft.Gimbel bearing seems smooth and well lubed.The spline is broken in the upper half.I do need a new lower end.A friend of mine wants to use metal adhesive or some type of epoxy and basically glue a slightly smaller shaft to the broken spline,let cure for 48 hours than wiggle it out.Any other ideas?.Also as I slid the upper half out,it came out so easy that I couldn't really see which way the shifter linkage fit together.Any one have a drawing?could sure use one.Thanks
 
Whats shot the lower or the upper? Or both?

Go with a sei lower or upper not worth rebuilding ether or both.

Bt would know better but i think he said the upper is 600 i don't know for sure.
 
do a search sei drives, they are excellent i think a 3 year no questions asked warranty.They make uppers, lowers exact replacement. Brand new.

You buy old you don't know what your getting this way your getting complete stuff.
 
homerl said:
It's the lower chiefalen.I take it sei is a replacement drive,I was thinking maybe used?
Click to expand...


a few years ago these SEI drives had bad reviews. currently many have reported good results over several seasons of heavy use....

made in china. very low cost for a new drive...
 
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