Problem May Be Fixed: PLEASE READ!

[Tugaloo]

IBNFSHN suggested that I post about my problem with my boat motor on iboats.com, & I did. Here is my original post.

This question is about a 1988 Johnson 20 HP tiller type outboard motor.

The last time I was on the lake, when I got back to the boat ramp, I was running my boat in to shore. I hit the kill switch while the motor was still in Forward. Just as I got to the bank, the motor prop touched the bottom slightly. I don't know if either of those things make a difference, but I'm trying to include any possibility. When I tried to shift the handle on the starboard side of the engine that shifts the motor between Forward, Neutral, & Reverse, it would not shift. If I put enough pressure on the handle it would move very quickly from Forward to Reverse, but not to Neutral. When I got home, I took the cover off the motor & could see that a heavy metal rod, mounted vertically inside a spring on the starboard side of the motor was making contact with a metal plate on a large brass-colored ring that went about 3/4 of the way around the motor. I could see that if this metal rod did NOT hit the metal plate, it could stop in Neutral. On the port side of the motor, I found that this large brass-colored metal ring had a kind of elbow on it. A place where two pieces of metal met with a metal pin in the middle to make a kind of pivot point. I used a screwdriver to pull on that pivot point and when it hinged outward, the metal ring turned, & the metal plate moved enough that the rod could move up & the shift lever would then stop in Neutral.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to what could have caused this to happen? Can you suggest what I need to do to keep it from happening again? I haven't started the motor since that time, but I know that in Forward the rope pull was locked up & now that it is in Neutral, the rope pull is no longer locked up. But I haven't started it, & I don't know if the motor would go back into Forward or not.

Is this linkage, a broken part, lubrication, something that has gone wrong in the lower part of the motor? Any ideas?


In reply a guy named G Dane from Denmark posted this reply.

The heavy metal rod, which is in fact plastic is connected to a cam at the gearshift lever, to avoid shifting in gear when trottle is applied, and reving motor high up in neutral. Motor should be brought down to about iddel, before shifting, Thats your mistake.


I posted this follow-up:

Thanks for your reply, G Dane. Are you saying then, that now that the problem is fixed as long as I don't shift gears with the motor reved up and that there is no need to take it in for repairs? That would really be good news.

So far, G Dane hasn't posted a reply. I hope he will & I'll let you guys know if he does.

In the meantime, what do you fellows make of all this? Does it sound like I stopped the motor in the middle of a cycle & had to complete the cycle by what I did to work the pivot point & rotate the large brass ring? When I was coming in to shore, I had the motor in Forward & I was thinking about running it in toward shore, killing the motor & letting the boat's momentum run in up onto the shore. I do remember that the throttle was advanced a little more than idle. Maybe when I stopped the motor like that, I stopped it before it could cycle back to a point where it could shift into Neutral. What do you think?

Sorry this is long, but I'm excited to think that maybe what I thot was a problem that needed to go in for repairs isn't really a problem after all. The thing is, tho, that the motor is 3 hours away from where I am right now & I won't get a chance to check into all this before Thursday or Friday of this week.

Tugaloo

[JimmyS]

Tugaloo, If you don't get an answer to the problem here, Go to www.iboats.com and post your question there, one of the omc tecs. will have an answer for you and it's free. Good Luck! Jimmy S.

[Barnacle Bill]

IBNFSHN suggested that I post about my problem with my boat motor on iboats.com, & I did. Here is my original post.

This question is about a 1988 Johnson 20 HP tiller type outboard motor.

The last time I was on the lake, when I got back to the boat ramp, I was running my boat in to shore. I hit the kill switch while the motor was still in Forward. Just as I got to the bank, the motor prop touched the bottom slightly. I don't know if either of those things make a difference, but I'm trying to include any possibility. When I tried to shift the handle on the starboard side of the engine that shifts the motor between Forward, Neutral, & Reverse, it would not shift. If I put enough pressure on the handle it would move very quickly from Forward to Reverse, but not to Neutral. When I got home, I took the cover off the motor & could see that a heavy metal rod, mounted vertically inside a spring on the starboard side of the motor was making contact with a metal plate on a large brass-colored ring that went about 3/4 of the way around the motor® I could see that if this metal rod did NOT hit the metal plate, it could stop in Neutral. On the port side of the motor, I found that this large brass-colored metal ring had a kind of elbow on it. A place where two pieces of metal met with a metal pin in the middle to make a kind of pivot point. I used a screwdriver to pull on that pivot point and when it hinged outward, the metal ring turned, & the metal plate moved enough that the rod could move up & the shift lever would then stop in Neutral.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to what could have caused this to happen? Can you suggest what I need to do to keep it from happening again? I haven't started the motor since that time, but I know that in Forward the rope pull was locked up & now that it is in Neutral, the rope pull is no longer locked up. But I haven't started it, & I don't know if the motor would go back into Forward or not.

Is this linkage, a broken part, lubrication, something that has gone wrong in the lower part of the motor? Any ideas?


In reply a guy named G Dane from Denmark posted this reply.

The heavy metal rod, which is in fact plastic is connected to a cam at the gearshift lever, to avoid shifting in gear when trottle is applied, and reving motor high up in neutral. Motor should be brought down to about iddel, before shifting, Thats your mistake.


I posted this follow-up:

Thanks for your reply, G Dane. Are you saying then, that now that the problem is fixed as long as I don't shift gears with the motor reved up and that there is no need to take it in for repairs? That would really be good news.

So far, G Dane hasn't posted a reply. I hope he will & I'll let you guys know if he does.

In the meantime, what do you fellows make of all this? Does it sound like I stopped the motor in the middle of a cycle & had to complete the cycle by what I did to work the pivot point & rotate the large brass ring? When I was coming in to shore, I had the motor in Forward & I was thinking about running it in toward shore, killing the motor & letting the boat's momentum run in up onto the shore. I do remember that the throttle was advanced a little more than idle. Maybe when I stopped the motor like that, I stopped it before it could cycle back to a point where it could shift into Neutral. What do you think?

Sorry this is long, but I'm excited to think that maybe what I thot was a problem that needed to go in for repairs isn't really a problem after all. The thing is, tho, that the motor is 3 hours away from where I am right now & I won't get a chance to check into all this before Thursday or Friday of this week.

Tugaloo

Way to go. Hopefully your problem is fixed.

[Crapbie]

Sounds like you fixed it to this unprofessional. Whats up with the answer coming from denmark of all places, did not expect that. Think they have crappie there?

[papasage]

that wouldn`t have hert it .maby the foot hit something in the shallow water . or something in the foot came apart and the preasure on the shifter bent it

[Moose1am]

1. Tagoo:

I have a 1978 Johnson 35HP motor and it's setup to not allow me to not start the motor unless I have the gears in neutral. And while in neutral the throttle will only go up so far and then it's stops at about half way forward. That is by design. You should always let off the gas when you are shifting out of neutral into forward or reverse. Once you get the motor in gear then and only then should you apply more throttle and start going faster.

You could tear up the gears if you were to reve up the motor and then shift out of neutral into forward or reverse.

If you got the motor back in neutral then you may be ok. It's hard to say if anything up in the top of the motor is broken.. Sometimes things just get old (plastic breaks down in the enviromemnt) and fail or break for no appearent reason. Things that are happening at the time of the break down could be a contributing factor or they may not have anything to do with the failure of a part. Motors undergo considerable vibrations over their lifetime and things can work loose over time.

My best recommendation to you would be to take the motor to a certified Johnson repair shop and have them examine it and give it a good going over. Yearly maintainence is a good idea anyway.

Things like the water pump impeller (made out of rubber that can crack and fall apart) should be inspected and replaced frequently. They can also check out all the linkages and see if they are intact. If the motor was running good before this problem happened then that is a good sign.

I had some wiring insulation (plastic covering on the wires) on my boat's engine crumble and fall off. I had to splice in some new wiring and get a few new pins that went inside some of the hard rubber electrical connectors. I was able to fix that problem myself. They were asking a fortune for a new wiring harness. I was able to repair my harness and make it work again.

Things to check from time to time.

1. Thermostat
2. water pump impeller
3. spark plugs
4. oil/fuel mixture
5. carb (clean and/or replace it)
6. lower unit's gear grease
7. use 2+4 or stabil fuel additive
8. fuel lines and fuel filter in both engine and gas tanks
9. fuses ( have spare fuses for all fuses in your motor and boat)
10. Battery connections (clean terminal and keep them tight)
11. Charge batteries after every use
12. Check fuel levels in gas tank
13. Check tire pressure in trailer wheels
14. Grease bearings on trailer every six months or so many miles
15. Engine compression tested once in a while
16. all linkages for good

This is just a few things that should be checked and a few things to keep in mind

IBNFSHN suggested that I post about my problem with my boat motor on iboats.com, & I did. Here is my original post.

This question is about a 1988 Johnson 20 HP tiller type outboard motor.

The last time I was on the lake, when I got back to the boat ramp, I was running my boat in to shore. I hit the kill switch while the motor was still in Forward. Just as I got to the bank, the motor prop touched the bottom slightly. I don't know if either of those things make a difference, but I'm trying to include any possibility. When I tried to shift the handle on the starboard side of the engine that shifts the motor between Forward, Neutral, & Reverse, it would not shift. If I put enough pressure on the handle it would move very quickly from Forward to Reverse, but not to Neutral. When I got home, I took the cover off the motor & could see that a heavy metal rod, mounted vertically inside a spring on the starboard side of the motor was making contact with a metal plate on a large brass-colored ring that went about 3/4 of the way around the motor. I could see that if this metal rod did NOT hit the metal plate, it could stop in Neutral. On the port side of the motor, I found that this large brass-colored metal ring had a kind of elbow on it. A place where two pieces of metal met with a metal pin in the middle to make a kind of pivot point. I used a screwdriver to pull on that pivot point and when it hinged outward, the metal ring turned, & the metal plate moved enough that the rod could move up & the shift lever would then stop in Neutral.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to what could have caused this to happen? Can you suggest what I need to do to keep it from happening again? I haven't started the motor since that time, but I know that in Forward the rope pull was locked up & now that it is in Neutral, the rope pull is no longer locked up. But I haven't started it, & I don't know if the motor would go back into Forward or not.

Is this linkage, a broken part, lubrication, something that has gone wrong in the lower part of the motor? Any ideas?


In reply a guy named G Dane from Denmark posted this reply.

The heavy metal rod, which is in fact plastic is connected to a cam at the gearshift lever, to avoid shifting in gear when trottle is applied, and reving motor high up in neutral. Motor should be brought down to about iddel, before shifting, Thats your mistake.


I posted this follow-up:

Thanks for your reply, G Dane. Are you saying then, that now that the problem is fixed as long as I don't shift gears with the motor reved up and that there is no need to take it in for repairs? That would really be good news.

So far, G Dane hasn't posted a reply. I hope he will & I'll let you guys know if he does.

In the meantime, what do you fellows make of all this? Does it sound like I stopped the motor in the middle of a cycle & had to complete the cycle by what I did to work the pivot point & rotate the large brass ring? When I was coming in to shore, I had the motor in Forward & I was thinking about running it in toward shore, killing the motor & letting the boat's momentum run in up onto the shore. I do remember that the throttle was advanced a little more than idle. Maybe when I stopped the motor like that, I stopped it before it could cycle back to a point where it could shift into Neutral. What do you think?

Sorry this is long, but I'm excited to think that maybe what I thot was a problem that needed to go in for repairs isn't really a problem after all. The thing is, tho, that the motor is 3 hours away from where I am right now & I won't get a chance to check into all this before Thursday or Friday of this week.

Tugaloo

[Tugaloo]

OK Moose. Thanks. The list will be helpful.

However, it wasn't that I shifted gears with the throttle advanced. All I did was to hit the kill switch with the throttle somewhat advanced. Not a whole lot more than trolling speed. However, when the motor came to a complete stop & I tried to shift it from Forward to Neutral, I could not do so. What the guy at iboats was saying, <<I Think>>, was that stopping the motor in such a way did not allow that "no shifting gears with the throttle advanced thing" to go back to its normal position & it had to be shifted back to its normal position manually, which I did with the screwdriver. At least that's what I HOPE he was saying, because, if that's the case, then there is nothing about that particular problem that needs to be repaired.

Tugaloo

[Tugaloo]

Is the site working properly again?

T