I have a mercruiser i/o alpha one gen II motor 3.0 4 liter. While I was out on the water the other day I shifted my boat into forward and for a brief second I felt a jolt as if the prop would have hit the bottom. I was no where near the bottom and I looked behind the boat and there was nothing for the prop to have hit on. As I continued my excursion I found that the engine would not go into neutral when I would bring my throttle remote to neutral. It goes into forward and reverse just fine, it's just in order for it to go into neutral I actually have to move the throttle remote in the opposite direction briefly for it to go into neutral. I have been trying to do some research. To the best of my knowledge I do not think that my upper shift cable that goes to the remote is binding. I have found the cut out switch and I also read that these issues could be the lower unit shift cable. My question is how do I diagnose properly if it is the cut out switch or the lower shift cable. I am going to try the adjustment procedure in the repair manual but if that does not work then is it possible for the cut out switch to just go bad and need to replace it and how would I know? Is there a way to rule everything else out right away and know that it is in the lower unit shift cable or the upper shift cable? I am new to repairing my boat so please respond so I might be able to understand. Thank you. Also, upon inspecting my cutout switch I do not see a little roller on the metal band that is attached to the little black box which I believe is the part that actually causes the engine to "stall" briefly. I have never looked at that piece particularly in the past so I don't know if there ever has been one but I was wondering if that might be a part of the problem. Could the cut out switch just happen to have been working all this time for however long it has not had the roller?

On 5/12/2012 12:31 PM, ChrisInWA wrote:
Could the cut out switch just happen to have been working
all this time for however long it has not had the roller?




Have a boat fixer look at it. I've heard of folks monkeying with the
switch because they thought it needed adjusting, bending, or modifying,
when, in fact, one of the control cables or levers was bad.

On May 12, 12:31*pm, ChrisInWA wrote:
I have a mercruiser i/o alpha one gen II motor 3.0 4 liter. *While I was
out on the water the other day I shifted my boat into forward and for a
brief second I felt a jolt as if the prop would have hit the bottom. *I
was no where near the bottom and I looked behind the boat and there was
nothing for the prop to have hit on. *As I continued my excursion I
found that the engine would not go into neutral when I would bring my
throttle remote to neutral. *It goes into forward and reverse just fine,
it's just in order for it to go into neutral I actually have to move the
throttle remote in the opposite direction briefly for it to go into
neutral. *I have been trying to do some research. *To the best of my
knowledge I do not think that my upper shift cable that goes to the
remote is binding. *I have found the cut out switch and I also read that
these issues could be the lower unit shift cable. *My question is how do
I diagnose properly if it is the cut out switch or the lower shift
cable. *I am going to try the adjustment procedure in the repair manual
but if that does not work then is it possible for the cut out switch to
just go bad and need to replace it and how would I know? *Is there a way
to rule everything else out right away and know that it is in the lower
unit shift cable or the upper shift cable? *I am new to repairing my
boat so please respond so I might be able to understand. *Thank you.
Also, upon inspecting my cutout switch I do not see a little roller on
the metal band that is attached to the little black box which I believe
is the part that actually causes the engine to "stall" briefly. *I have
never looked at that piece particularly in the past so I don't know if
there ever has been one but I was wondering if that might be a part of
the problem. *Could the cut out switch just happen to have been working
all this time for however long it has not had the roller?

--
ChrisInWA

Try this website www.marineengine.com

Its FREE to register, and you'll actually find people that discuss
BOATS. Theres a Mercruiser forum, and lots of knowledgeable people
there. NO stupid, **** Politics, either !!!

Well I luckily found a local dealer that had an extra cut out switch like the one that was on my boat. I replaced it and it works now. The switch must have broken while on the water. I will have to look for the broken piece if it is under the motor. All is well and I'm back on the water.