briantheboater
New member
I was on a sea test the other day on a boat I was looking at and the owner moved the shifter on the starboard side from forward to neutral with the engine running at 1000 rpm. Without going completely into neutral it started making a significant grinding noise for about five or 10 seconds. The owner scrambled to rectify it eventually pushing the shifter back forward. I can’t be sure but I think he initially thought he was moving the throttle and it took a second clue in that he moved the shifter before realizing it and moving back. While sorting out the issue he also noted that he saw smoke coming from the rear of the boat on the starboard side. After that the starboard motor would not operate in reverse on low idle, to the point that when we went back to his slip he was not able to dock. Friends of his around the marina had to rope us in. I found out after the fact that the transmission is completely cooked. Is a shifter being moved from Forward to neutral while the motor is running at 1000 RPM able to cause that kind of damage all at once or was something likely already wrong with the transmission? The motor is a MerCruiser 7.4 in a ‘72 Chris Craft Commander.