HPDI 250 and reverse?

[Dubious Millipede]

I have an 04 Seaswirl 2601 with a Yamaha 250 HPDI. Engine's got 10 hours on it (brand new fiberglass smell mmmmmm...) and I noticed a little issue when I was putting it back onto my boat lift. While trying to maneuver the boat over the lift, I noticed that reverse was questionable. I would try to shift into reverse and noticed the control was very stiff. Once the control was in reverse the engine would not really be in reverse until I applied a moderate amount of throttle. Not much if any grinding. The problem just came on and the gears have been working fine since I first put the boat in the water.

After getting the boat on the lift and lifting it out I took the engine cowl off and looked at the control linkage on the straboard side of the engine. The articulation looks good but appears not to push the slider all the way back when put into reverse. I am sorry if I am using the non technical terms for the apperatus but I am unfamiliar with what each piece is called.

Since there seems to be a lack of "throw" in the shifting mechanism, it doesn't appear to be shifting all the way into reverse, under the hood and the control is stiff I was wondering if it could be a cable issue. Such as the cable jacket coming unmounted near the controls or under the hood or if the cable has loosened up a bit and needs to be adjusted. I feel comfortable doing a cable adjustment myself, comes from wrenching on motorcycles for a few years.

I was wondering if any one had any ideas of other things to look at or if my diagnosis is probably the correct one.

Thanks

[onemooretoy]

I had a problem with my z250 just after getting it serviced I fished all day got back to the dock and almost no reverse and motor was skipping real bad in reverse.
Got the cal off and found a small bolt binding my shift linkage removed it. I looked for possible places to put bolt in couldn't find one called the shop they gave me a few places to look but everything was in place. My thought is someone at the shop drop it couldn't find it and put a new one in its place 70 hrs later no problems.

[SIM]

Dubious,

Did it always work this way or did it just happen?

If it just happened and you are sure the shift cable is attached under the cowling correctly,and nothing is mechanically binding the linkage under the cowl,*then it may be time to pull the binnacle control out and check inside the shifter itself for a problem. Its pretty straight forward. If you have tooled with bikes then this should be no biggie.

More then likely you will have to remove the bolts that hold*the control*down to gain acsess to the cables.

I would also try removing the cable at the attachment point under the cowl and manually try to put it in reverse*gear. You can do this with the engine off but someone will have to spin the prop by hand to get it to slip into reverse.



SIM

[Dubious Millipede]

Reverse worked when I took the boat off of the lift in the morning and was fine when I came back to the dock at lunch. When I came back at the end of the day the problem started. Nothing significant happened but, it was very rough out on the Chesapeak so something could have worked its way loose. I will call the dealer and get the mechanics opinion who went over the boat with me when I purchased it. He actually said that he needed to make an adjustment for shifting into reverse. Maybe he forgot to put th elocking nut on the cable end? I've done that a million times on throttle cables.

No biggie, just need to look at it next weekend.

Thanks for the input.

[aquasport17]

Sounds like you need an adjustment to the shift/throttle cables. That happens when new cables stretch when new.

[LI Sound Grunt]

Agreed

but remember you don't wanna go slow from neutral to reverse. Make sure you are doing a clean fast throw into rev....