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1978 rescued from a barn,,first try in water help please

M

mrstfx

New member
Ok well I put the boat in the water, all seems to go ok at first except in neutral the boat still goes forward a bit.

anyways it was working fine at 1/4 trottle for a few minutes then it seemed to go into neutral,,,then back into gear then out again. I shut it down right away and thanked heavens that I had a trolling motor with enought umph to get me back to shore.

any ideas?
could it be low on tranny oil? what else sould i check
** the tilt isnt working but i put it down manually i think i put it low enough (about 5 teeth from the end)

Thanks for any and all help
Dan
boat is a 1978 sunray with omc 125 h.p. 4cyl sterndrive
 
Depends on the drive, you have the electric shift or hydro-mechanical drive ? A seloc #3400 in the right hand corner will have all the info u need but for now put up a pic of the drive. We can then tell you more.
 
mrstfx said:
i think i put it low enough (about 5 teeth from the end)
Click to expand...
that is not low enough

you should never run the engine under full load with the drive anywhere but all the way down.

I suspect the ball gears have failed as a result of running tilted.
 
ok well first off I wesn't under full load (about 1/8 to 1/4 throttle) and I only went about 100 feet, but anyways how do I test this.
I am uploading pics as you can see I took off the propeller to make sure it was ok (seems good)

and without putting back in the water how can I test to make sure it goes all the way into gear?
(I have a large garbage can I could fill with water) boatfoot2.jpgboatengine.jpgboatfoot1.jpg
 
you can just check the ball gears visually- if you ran at that angle and they are more than 50% worn, they may have failed

althought the boat may be a 1978 model, that engine/drive is not a 1978, as it is an electric shift drive pictured (1964-1977 vintage)
being an electric shift drive, you may simply have a wiring or ground problem causing the drive to disengage (it takes electric current to engage F or R on your drive)
here's a schematic so you can see how the wiring to the drive goes (single wires with the drive casing being the return current path)
http://hhscott.com/evinrude/images/wiring/73_OMC_V8_all_big.jpg

to run out of the water, you can get a rad flush adapter at any auto parts place for around $5 and install it between the intermediate housing and thermostat housing in the water supply line, hook up the garden hose and turn on full before starting - water will flow to the engine and also back to the impeller to lubricate it - the garbage pail thing doesn't work very well on these drives as the impeller is high up in the drive
011.jpg
 
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ok I looked at the wiring diagram and I'll bet your right about the green wire not being conected (I havent had a chance to check but think i remember an unconnected green wire I'll check if it gets power when in forward,,,btw if there is only one wire how does the unit know if it is in*forward or reverse?
I have a wire hanging down from the sterndrive that might be the culprit,,,but it seems to connect up on the foot between the foot and the boat (like near the pivot you can see it I attached it to the ground strap) how is it routed to the inside of the engine compartment?*and yes the foot*is grounded (I checked when trying to troubleshoot the tilt motor)*

and as for running the engine from a hose,,,as you can see from my pic the boat already has a hose on the port side of the engine(looks like a washer hose(females on both ends) *with a valve that I can connect to a hose,,,I thought this was for running it on the driveway,,,isn't it? Is your way better?

BTW thanks for all the help
 
oh, ok, you have a flushing adapter already - that is fine then - it is doing the same thing as my adapter

the wires snake up from the lower unit through a guide hole in the upper unit, then through a hole in the intermediate (starboard side near the ball gears)
there are 2 wires, one green, one blue for F and R
 
ok so I found the wires connected them and took the boat for another try. both my wires were black so I had to try the shifter then reverse the wires (as reverse was forward and vice versa).
Anyways the boat worked great except for 2 things,,one I blew out a fan belt (no big deal)
2 the boat is leaking from right around where the wire goes thru the sterndrive it might be a screwed in plug I will have to look more closely. the water seems to only come in when the boat is in water (as opposed to when it is running off a hose,,,so the boat isnt perfect,,,but itès coming along.

thanks to,,,everybody
 
I highly suggest you drain and refill the gear oil and replace the drain/fill seals in the intermediate, upper and lower gearcases before you do any more testing. If this boat has been sitting for a long time this absolutely must be done before you put any more stress on these internal parts.
 
Again before you even drain anything or touch anything get a manual. Read the manual get to know the terms we use when describing a fix for your problems. Yes there will be many.

Yes you have a electric shift that is why i asked for the pic see i knew they sometimes put a year older drive and engine setup on boats back then, sometimes 2 years older the parts were new but was in stock at the time they were building the boat.

You need a manual.

In the manual will tell you what drive oil to use in what case, there are 4 on your boat. Yes 4 i count the tilt clutch housing. Yep you will have to service it, and never ever never run this drive again unless you have water going to the drive and the drive fully down.

Want the link on how to service the tilt clutch housing or you want to keep raising and lowing it manually. Or did you just leave off the half moon gear ?
 
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