Outboard questions

[Chompy]

The outboard my boat came with is having some trouble shifting into Forward; specifically, I have to actually hold it in forward or else it snaps back to neutral within a few seconds. Reverse works fine. Is there some common issue that could cause something like this?

Right now the stern bracket is almost entirely gone, but I'm not sure how that would cause a problem like this. The outboard suffered a hard collision about 2 weeks ago, and I'm worried that it did some damage to the transmission along with the aforementioned stern brackets.

I'm afraid I know very little about outboards, in the past I never used one.. so any advice would be appreciated. I'm half-tempted to scrap the damn thing rather than spend $200 for new stern brackets and then find something else wrong with the thing. There are no Nissan marine dealers in the area, so I don't have a shop I can bring the thing to.

[TrueBlue]

The first thing I would check is the gear-lube level. Hard shifting, or gear slippage, could be an indication of low oil.

I've never owned a Nissan outboard, but most have similar maintenance procedures. There should be two stainless steel bolts on the gear unit housing; the lower one, on the lower unit - below the cavitation plate - is used for filling. The upper bolt, on the upper housing, is the vent. Remove both the lower and upper bolts, drain all oil into a pan and discard. Check for water intrusion - evidenced by a milky, tanish colored oil consistency. This is a sure sign of possible damage to the gear housing seals, or O-rings.

With the proprietary hand pump, either supplied with the gear lube bottle, or bought separately, screw the hose nozzle into the bottom fill vent. With the upper vent screw still removed, pump oil into the gear housing until it spurts out of the upper vent. Then replace both screws, ensuring the O-rings are in place.

It's a good idea to drain/replace the gear lube before winter layup each year. I've done this each year with my tender's outboards and on the stern drives on all of the powerboats I've ever owned. This will extend the life of your lower & upper unit and provide smooth gear shifting.

[Shaka]

I have not been into a Nissan before, mine is a Suzuki. The transmission is in the foot of the motor. The gear shift lever actuates a long rod that runs down through the shaft to the transmission. This rod couples with the rod from the transmission behind an inspection cover. Mine is a large rubber plug in the side of the shaft. The first thing that I would do is remove the inspection cover and see how the two rods are coupled. On the Suzuki, you lossen one bolt that is through a clamp. Make sure that the lower rod to the transmission is in Neutral and the lever is in Neutral and then tighten the clamp back together.

Good Luck,
Richard

[haffiman37]

What probably have happened is that the clutch dog and forward whel in the gearbox itself is worn out and needs replacement.. A general gearbox overhaul! Try a search on e-bay for a 'new', will probably be cheaper than repair.

[mikehoyt]

I have an older Honda 4 stk 7.5
Had a similar problem with popping out of reverse when under load. Most inconvenient when manouevering in a marina!

There is a long rod from the gearbox area to the shifter that runs up the shaft and is threaded on the top end. The shifter knob causes the rod to move upwards and downwards to change the gears from fwd, neutral, reverse. The locations of these gears on the shifting lever are adjusted by the threaded cap on the top end of this rod. Moving the cap upward or downward by turning this cap clockwise or counter clockwise is how the gear shift positions are adjusted on the Honda.

I had taken the engine to a Honda dealer who "adjusted" this for me. They said it was not in quite the right position. Will still ocassionally pop out of reverse but not as often or as easily as before. The reason the adjustment was needed was age and the fact that I had the shaft removed to replace the impellor and some seals.

My engine is 1979 model. I have in some years replaced parts myself and done my own winterizing and in others taken it to the dealer. The dealer never seems to do anything different than what I have done but the whole engine runs better after they have had it. I would recommend you look a little deeper and find someone who services Nissans as I have heard they are a good engine.

Good Luck

Mike
Full Tilt 2

[resdog]

There is an authorized service center for Nissan/Tohatsu in Henderson. Site link:

http://www.offshoremarinelv.net/service

As an aside, I have the same 8 hp engine and it's a good running outboard. Clean it up and have it serviced, it's a lot cheaper than buying a new one. By your attached photo it looks like the engine you inherited with the boat has been somewhat neglected.

[Chompy]

There is an authorized service center for Nissan/Tohatsu in Henderson. Site link:

http://www.offshoremarinelv.net/service

As an aside, I have the same 8 hp engine and it's a good running outboard. Clean it up and have it serviced, it's a lot cheaper than buying a new one. By your attached photo it looks like the engine you inherited with the boat has been somewhat neglected.

Yeah, I found that dealer via nissanmarine.com, but unfortunately they're out of business; they just haven't updated their dealer list yet.

As for the outbord, it runs great; starts right up, no problem. I'm going to pull it this weekend and tinker around with it based on some of the advice I've seen here. Thanks guys!

[codmander]

its the adjustment needs to be centered equal in reverse as foward

[codmander]

i am a ami certified mechanic -------

[codmander]

worst at least adjust for foward and be intermitten in reverse if ya catch me drift