Help pls with Shift Lever adjustment

[Billy Bones]

Hi all-

The Engines are evinrude 200 ficht, fairly new @ around 1600 hrs.

One, the nearer one to the shifters, has a problem with it's shift cable staying in adjustment. The result is that engine remains in forward when lever is in neutral position and so on.

Can anyone offer any suggestions for adjusting this?

Can anyone offer any thought about why one engine would require frequent adjustment and cable replacement while the other works without headache?

Our dealer has been a complete washout in addressing the root cause of the problem, although they continue to show great prowess at billing.

Any thoughts much appreciated.

[marshmat]

Are you sure it's the cable, and not the linkage within the motor itself? Repeatedly tweaking the cable won't do much if the internal linkage is not adjusted right. It should click smoothly into all three positions without sticking, if you actuate the mechanism right at the motor....

[Billy Bones]

Thanks Matt for the reply.

No I am not sure it is the cabling.

I poked around some yesterday and (without removing the engine cable end) noted that the cable delivers the shift arm in the engine to nearly the exact same position on the misbehaving engine as on the good one. I ran it again this morning and found that:

After running forward for a bit, the engine remains in forward when the control lever is returned to the neutral position.

The engine remains in reverse when the lever is returned to neutral after backing about half the time.

When the control lever is in neutral and the engine is still idling ahead, one must bump the control lever backward past neutral about half an inch to get it to come out of frd. HOWEVER, this almost always engages the engine directly into reverse with an abrupt slam, rather than into neutral.

As a result of this problem the lower unit has had to be completely replaced earlier this year, having turned the bearings and a fair portion of the gearing into ground beef. The lower unit is new, yet the problem persists.

Therefore, since the control cable appears not to be a problem, and the lower unit is new, it looks like the shifting linkage within the motor is to blame, being the only remaining suspect.

Further thoughts anyone?

[SamSam]

Maybe it's in the shifter. Since the problem is in the shorter cable engine, you might switch the cable over from the correctly operating engine and see if it then works right. Here is a site where you can get some help. You have to register, but it's worth it. Sam
http://forums.iboats.com/