www.iFourWinns.com

So, great day on the lake. Until I got to the slip. Coming into the dock area, as I went to pull out of gear, shift handle came clear and had no affect on the speed/drive if the boat.... headed right to a boat. Luckily I thought enough to shut the boat off (in gear, I know) and was able to jump into the water at the rear and stop the boat by swimming and pulling the boat in reverse. It was crazy to say the least. No damage, didn't hit anything.... feels like it came apart at the shift control at the helm.... how does that come off to be able to see what happened? Any input is appreciated. Going to research tonight and try to look at it tomorrow...

Info is in my signature

Thanks for the help

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Current:
2000 Sea Ray 380 Sundancer "still Livin the Dream"

Past
2002 268 Vista 5.7 GXI "Livin' the Dream"
1996 Rinker 192 Captiva. "The Simple Life"
1999 Yamaha XLL 1200 Waverunner.
1976 Mercury Marquis tri hull 120 hp

Chris, I had that happen 2 years ago out on the water. It was in gear and moving the lever had no effect on shifting. The shifter cover can be moved in any direction and easily popped off. The shifter can be pulled straight up by loosening / removing 4 mounting screws. On mine the shift cable housing attachment screw had unscrewed and come loose. We had noticed that it was sometimes hard to get it to shift into neutral prior to this. The screw threads into a 10-32 nut in the bottom end of the shifter quadrant, and this nut was gone allowing the screw to come out of the bracket. The cable is held in place with a plastic 3 inch long U channel, a maybe 5/8" plate with a slot to fit the groove in the cable housing, and a metal u channel that covers the cable housing end in the plastic channel. If you have the same situation and have a 10-32 nut that would be great. I didn't and wound up using a coarse thread 10-24 screw and double nutted it. A phillips screwdriver, straight screwdriver, maybe a pocket knife, and pliers or small wrenches would do it if you have the same issue I had.

PM sent.

_________________
Surface Interval: A scuba diving term for that time between dives to relax and prepare for life's next great adventure.

Current boat: '02 FW 268 Vista
Previous boat: '95 FW 190 Horizon

Gosh, thank you for that Gary! I was freaking out that I was going to crash this boat. We had the exact same symptoms in recent weeks. THANK YOU FOR THE INFO. You are a wealth of knowledge on this board. Going to head there first thing in the morning. You just brightened my evening. Pretty confident it's the same by your description

_________________
Current:
2000 Sea Ray 380 Sundancer "still Livin the Dream"

Past
2002 268 Vista 5.7 GXI "Livin' the Dream"
1996 Rinker 192 Captiva. "The Simple Life"
1999 Yamaha XLL 1200 Waverunner.
1976 Mercury Marquis tri hull 120 hp

If you want, respond to my PM with your cell phone # and I'll send a couple pics of the quadrant pulled out.

_________________
Surface Interval: A scuba diving term for that time between dives to relax and prepare for life's next great adventure.

Current boat: '02 FW 268 Vista
Previous boat: '95 FW 190 Horizon

That'll do it. I had the same issue on my 268.

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2007 358 T-5.7GXi IB
Previous Boats
'08 H240, '08 V318, '04 268, '04 225

Since I bought the boat, it has always felt a little hesitant in and out of gear. I figured it was the shift cable and I was going to have it looked at in the fall. It got drafuallybworse til today. Gonna head to the slip around 8!and tear into it. Thank you so much for all the info!

_________________
Current:
2000 Sea Ray 380 Sundancer "still Livin the Dream"

Past
2002 268 Vista 5.7 GXI "Livin' the Dream"
1996 Rinker 192 Captiva. "The Simple Life"
1999 Yamaha XLL 1200 Waverunner.
1976 Mercury Marquis tri hull 120 hp

Follow up, because it drives me crazy when people to close out what the fix was to their problem....

So the cable was still attached. The nut that holds the shifter handle on (behind the button you push to put it in neutral) came loose. Just had to get the shifter mechanism back in neutral, then align the handle to the neutral and tighten the nut. That's for the call from Gary (surface interval) all is fixed and operating properly.

Anyone had that happen before? Wondering if I should put some blue lock tight on it or should tightening it be enou to avoid this in the future?


Thanks again, have a great Sunday!

_________________
Current:
2000 Sea Ray 380 Sundancer "still Livin the Dream"

Past
2002 268 Vista 5.7 GXI "Livin' the Dream"
1996 Rinker 192 Captiva. "The Simple Life"
1999 Yamaha XLL 1200 Waverunner.
1976 Mercury Marquis tri hull 120 hp

Some locktite shouldn't hurt anything. It makes me wonder if someone had the shifter apart in the past. Does the shifter have any significant resistance when going into neutral? If so, it may be that screw being loose or the shift cable being worn. If needed, the 18 ft cable is maybe $50.

The important thing is that Dad is a hero for fixing the boat and putting smiles on the faces of the family......and the fix didn't really cost anything. It left a few dollars in the kitty for ice cream on the way home....

_________________
Surface Interval: A scuba diving term for that time between dives to relax and prepare for life's next great adventure.

Current boat: '02 FW 268 Vista
Previous boat: '95 FW 190 Horizon

Talking of shift cables; my 2009 278 with a D4/ EVC-C was a nightmare. Under warranty FW/ VP UK changed the ( expensive) actuator and shifter. Better, but it still gave problems when it needed to work well when docking ( actuator overload./ engine into limp mode/no drive).

I changed the shift cable to a TFXtreme one; Perfect now.

Shift cable change on a D4/ DPH is in itself a nightmare though; so much stuff has to be removed from the inner transom/ rear of the engine. 2 x 6 hour stints.

Yes this happened to me were the starboard shifter came right off. This year too it loosened up. I brought the Loctite to the boat today but couldn't get my self to use it. I might have to service the pin inside the thread for the gear override switch.

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-JD, 2003 328 Vista

Today I used Loctite blue on the throttle/shift leaver bolts, screw it, don't want it loosening up again.

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-JD, 2003 328 Vista