Transmission issue or what?

So we ran all day, about 7 hours, and anchored at an interesting looking spot. Got all settled in then some dude said it was a private area or some such crap and I needed to move.

So I tried to move and every time I put it in gear it died. It would go in reverse and keep running but not forward. This is a brand new trans. Oil level is good.

Or maybe I wrapped something around the shaft when I anchored? Hope not. Water is super murky and I’m sacred to dIve in. [emoji15]

So should a regular guy dive down in murky water to try to cut away whatever is wrapped, if indeed that’s what it is?

So engine off, in neutral, can you spin the shaft by hand?
You should be able to hold your breath long enough to feel around the shaft to see if there is something fouling it. Can’t see that taking more than 30 seconds.
I would not call a diver until sure there was work for him.

Ok. I will try to dive down there tomorrow AM in some daylight. We got here late so maybe the water will look clearer in the daylight. I’m obviously a chicken.

Edit:

Just went down to spin the shaft, and it spins free! WTF?

Take a serrated knife with you. It will work best if you need to cut anything.

You can work slowly on it each time you go under on a breath. Breath/relax.

Don’t worry about being under the water. You are safer there, then on the freeway.

If you can spin the shaft freely, skip the dive. Might be the neutral switch.

Neutral switch?

The switch that prevents starting the engine if in gear. Might be out of adjustment.

If the engine starts then any neutral switch installed is functioning properly.

I would start by shifting the transmission manually via the lever on the transmission and bypass the cables.

If same problem persists, and you have a typical yanmar KM4, I would call a yanmar mechanic to adjust the shifter. It may not have been shimmed properly at initial installation and may not be moving the drive cone a sufficient distance to engage the forward gear.

SoWhat said:

I would start by shifting the transmission manually via the lever on the transmission and bypass the cables
If same problem persists, and you have a typical yanmar KM4, I would call a yanmar mechanic to adjust the shifter. It may not have been shimmed properly at initial installation and may not be moving the drive cone a sufficient distance to engage the forward gear.

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This seems likely. This new trans was installed two years ago and has worked flawlessly, but maybe it’s out of adjustment now?

Have you ever done this adjustment? I assume it’s done by adjusting the shift lever somehow?

After inspecting the shift lever movement, according the the book its supposed to be at least 36mm and I only have 30mm or so. I’m adjusting this now. Does this seem like it could be a fix?

When I disconnected the cable and moved the shifter by hand it definitely found its “notch” past where the cable was letting it go, and the book seems pretty specific about this “more than 36mm of movement”. I’m trying to adjust this now so hopefully this fixes it. .

This am I started the engine and put it in gear and while it chugged a bit it didn’t stall. And come to think of it, it has always felt like it was about to stall when putting it in gear and I had to advance the throttle quickly so it would not. I never thought about it however.

If this in fact does fix it,I’m not pleased with the guy who installed the trans and didn’t check this pretty important adjustment. [emoji35]

Whoops. Just realized I adjusted the cable down by the lever up so forward would fully engage, but guess what? Now reverse doesn’t engage st all. I assume there is another adjustment under this Morse control lever. [emoji30]

Ok, what trans and engine is this?

You adjusted the cable too far if you can't get reverse. Most gears it is not necessary to be against the stops. You adjusted it too far.

Suspect your idle rpm is too low and prop in fwd puts more load on engine (due to more efficient blade shape in fwd) so that's why it did not stall in rev.

What is your idle rpm? Four bangers can't idle down to 600 like sixes can. More like 750-800 for fours. And some fours want a bit higher.

Yanmar 4jh and Kanzaki km4 trans

My idle is a bit below 800 so that might be it.

Thanks Ski. Will readjust when I stop for today.

Yep, bump up idle a little. 4JH should be a stop screw on side of inj pump that leans on throttle lever. Takes 10mm wrench, but might be a 12mm.

Depending on which morse helm you have, some under the top cover plate are stop screws. Adjust cable and the screws so shift lever on trans in either gear goes nearly full travel but not against the stops.

Thanks for posting this. Your current pain is giving us information we may need at some future date. Hope you're back to cruising shortly!

At least you saved a diver bill and can move.

Yes saved the diver!
Crazy mechanical things...

cardude01 said:

This seems likely. This new trans was installed two years ago and has worked flawlessly, but maybe it’s out of adjustment now?

Have you ever done this adjustment? I assume it’s done by adjusting the shift lever somehow?

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The neutral safety switch prevents starting in gear, not running, it disables the starter only, so I doubt it's this.

Seems strange that is runs in reverse, sort of rules out something in the prop.

What is this “private area” cr@p? That sounds like a load of old cobblers. If I was told that I’d get my flotilla and get them all to go there together!

Xsbank said:

What is this “private area” cr@p? That sounds like a load of old cobblers. If I was told that I’d get my flotilla and get them all to go there together!

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A “private” area in public waters. I wouldn’t want to interfere with anyone’s experiments and such, but there must be a better way of expressing it than “private area”.

Anyhoo, I guess Cardude’s tranny operation must be OK because he launched from Lake Worth yesterday about 4 AM and is cruising the Exumas as we speak.

I’m on Green Turtle Cay! Trans is good. All I did was idle the engine up some and add a little 30w oil. Occam’s razor!

cardude01 said:

I’m on Green Turtle Cay! Trans is good. All I did was idle the engine up some and add a little 30w oil. Occam’s razor!

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Thanks Ski for that fairly obvious (but not to me) but effective solution for my trans/engine stalling problems!

healhustler said:

A “private” area in public waters. I wouldn’t want to interfere with anyone’s experiments and such, but there must be a better way of expressing it than “private area”.

Anyhoo, I guess Cardude’s tranny operation must be OK because he launched from Lake Worth yesterday about 4 AM and is cruising the Exumas as we speak.

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Abacos.

If he was in the Exumas then I want a few gallons of whatever diesel he put into his tanks!

Steve DAntonio said:

The neutral safety switch prevents starting in gear, not running, it disables the starter only, so I doubt it's this.

Seems strange that is runs in reverse, sort of rules out something in the prop.

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So Steve, when are you going to write for PM again? Miss your articles!

While it's important to keep the level up to the proper mark, adding oil to a mechanical transmission will have no effect on it shifting. Ski, good call on low rpm, I had a 400 hp Deere on a Selene that occassionally stalled when shifting from fwd to reverse, Selene said that was normal, I said to the owner no way, so they called in help, a lot of pro's scratched their heads, Deere sent factory folks in who hooked up their computer and found nothing wrong, sea trials etc, then the selling broker of all people said, "can we raise the rpm?", the tech did that through his laptop, it was at the low end of the Deere spec, and that did it. Big prop, deep reduction, low rpm = stalling.

Menzies, thanks, regarding writing for PMM again, I'll never say never but probably not ever again, the heyday of that magazine, for me anyway, was when it was individually owned, it was a lot of fun and a very rewarding association. I very much enjoyed 12 of my 14 years with them, it was a great ride that took me to some very interesting places, including and especially Antarctica, but like all good things it came to an end. I have a full editorial plate now, between Professional Boat Builder, Cruising World, Ocean Navigator, Prop Talk and my own website's bi-monthly articles, I'm satisfied, and I hope my readers are too.

Free Diving to Remove Rope Wrapped Around a Prop

cardude01 said:

So we ran all day, about 7 hours, and anchored at an interesting looking spot. Got all settled in then some dude said it was a private area or some such crap and I needed to move.

So I tried to move and every time I put it in gear it died. It would go in reverse and keep running but not forward. This is a brand new trans. Oil level is good.

Or maybe I wrapped something around the shaft when I anchored? Hope not. Water is super murky and I’m sacred to dIve in. [emoji15]

So should a regular guy dive down in murky water to try to cut away whatever is wrapped, if indeed that’s what it is?

Click to expand...

Many years ago, we stopped at the Indiantown Marina on the Okeechobee Waterway for fuel. A brand new cruiser had a crab pot rope wrapped around one prop and an older gentleman, who was part of the boat's crew, offered to go cut it off. I had my scuba tanks on board, so offered to clear the prop. The older gentleman insisted and jumped in. I quickly got my scuba gear together as I had a premonition. I took the tank and all to the other boat and was told that the older gentleman had not come back up. I slid into the water and quickly found him lying on the bottom, brought him up and handed him to the emergency response team diver that had just arrived. He had drowned. Judging by the cut on the back of his head, he probably pushed off the prop, only to hit his head on the rudder, knocking him out. A large alligator had been sunning itself on the opposite bank when we pulled into the fuel dock, but was nowhere to be seen when I was in the water. I have often thought about this incident and how easy it was for the older gentleman to get into trouble with devastating results.

Steve D is absolutely correct about PMM. It used to be excellent, I would save every issue and reread them many times. I still get it but it is a quick read and then I am done with it. After Bill Partalore left it went downhill quickly. Too bad.

menzies said:

Abacos.

If he was in the Exumas then I want a few gallons of whatever diesel he put into his tanks!

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Man, I must be getting old. I keep making more of those kind of mistakes. Hope I can do better than that if I ever have to call Towboat US!