Logo
FULL SITE MENU

Shifting problems on 97 evinrude 115

G

Georgiaboy67

Advanced Contributor
Alright y'all next problem I have come on down... sigh
I've noticed that with the motor off, shifting it into forward is harder then normal, and trying to bring it back to neutral is nearly impossible, I have to really put in some elbow grease to bring it back to neutral. I feel like I'm bout to break it. it's much easier to shift into reverse, and just as easy to go from reverse to neutral. This is just with the motor turned off. with the motor turned on, it's still harder to shift into forward gear, and sometimes trying to disengage it I have to wiggle the throttle to get it to disengage. But I'm not having to put a lot of elbow grease to disengage it. Sometimes I might put the shifter back in forward and try to disengage it again.
any ideas? I thought it could be the forward cable is going back. It started doing this on my last gearcase that's failed, and I've got a new sei gearcase and it's still doing it
 
I had been playing with the throttle with the foot completely off while I had waited to get the money to buy a new sei foot, and the throttle wasn't sticking at all moving it forward and disengaging it, etc. now with the foot on it came back.. kinda makes me think it's like a shift rod or something
 
Not a good idea to shift in and out with motor off and no one turning the prop. It's going to be harder shifting even when set correct. Be careful not to add warn shift cable to to-do list.
 
Oh wow I don't think I've ever been told that before.. will keep that in mind ! Sure would be nice to figure out what's going on with the boat this time
 
Still shouldn't be doing what it's doing, none of this started til the day that my old gearcase had went out, and it was after it went bad. Not before
 
You could try jumping up and down slowly beside the boat and see if that helps.------------Or take the control box apart for a look see.--------I suspect it is damaged !!
 
Georgiaboy67 said:
I had been playing with the throttle with the foot completely off while I had waited to get the money to buy a new sei foot, and the throttle wasn't sticking at all moving it forward and disengaging it, etc. now with the foot on it came back.. kinda makes me think it's like a shift rod or something
Click to expand...

I'm not familiar with the 1997 design... BUT...it sounds like the throttle cable trunion which is clamped at the engine is adjusted too snugly which jams the engine's throttle linkage too tight in neutral against the stop. If so, that causes a backlash jamming action between the throttle and shift cable within the control box. If this is the case, simply loosen that adjustable trunion slightly.
 
joereeves said:
I'm not familiar with the 1997 design... BUT...it sounds like the throttle cable trunion which is clamped at the engine is adjusted too snugly which jams the engine's throttle linkage too tight in neutral against the stop. If so, that causes a backlash jamming action between the throttle and shift cable within the control box. If this is the case, simply loosen that adjustable trunion slightly.
Click to expand...
This "trunion" you speak of that clamps at the engine.. Is it inside the cowling where I adjust it ? Or the outside? I have two cables that come behind the drivers side of the boat in the back that look to latch on at the outside of the cowling, is that the trunion?
 
Boobie said:
I still say your problem is in the control box and something is being over looked.
Click to expand...

Boobie: In all probability that may be Boobie. I was in no way attempting to contradict you... just wanted to mention something that I had encountered a few times.

GeorgiaBoy: A trunion is a knurled threaded knob would be on a threaded portion of the control cable so that you could adjust the cable to or fro somewhat. If it exists, it would be located approximately a foot (more/less) from the end of the cable.
 
Joe, I didn't mean any offense. Just thought it might be a good idea to look at the box seeing I haven't seen that done yet. Maybe I missed it ??
 
When this bipolar weather warms up enough today I'll take a look at the control box and the cables themselves, something may just be too tight cause I noticed yesterday at the lake that trying to push the throttle down enough to get on plane I definitely have to put forth some effort for it to push down to speed up, and their is a good amount of play to slow down. What I mean is; let's say I was at 30 mph, the amount of distance that I pushed the throttle forward to speed up to 36 mph, is not equal the amount of distance to pull the throttle back to slow down to 30 mph. I usually have to pull back the throttle twice as far as to slow down
 
I believe their is an adjustable throttle friction knob at the bottom of my control box. I'm going to play with it some and see if that helps any.
 
So I adjusted the friction knob, didn't do much, took the control box off, didn't really know what I was looking at, saw grease spread out everywhere wasn't sure what should be covered in grease or what shouldn't be.. I almost think it's something misadjusted in the foot.. could be wrong I'm not sure how to adjust my shifter cables,it didn't stick in forward with the foot completely off, but it did stick with the foot on. Is their a forward cable and a reverse? Or is it just one?
 
Just an update.. I fixed it!! I turned the friction knob back even more and it finally quit shifting so hard. It no longer sticks in forward. And it is not stiff speeding up.. it didn't stick or have trouble disengaging from either forward or reverse..
 
Yep you were right. It was the throttle friction knob adjuster on the control box right underneath the key switch. Evidently it was way too tight. Turned it back a bunch and it finally loosened up enough
 
Back
Top