www.iFourWinns.com

I have a 2009 SL242with a Volvo drive that I had an issue with all of a sudden Sunday. I was in and out of the boat all day with no issues and we decided to run up lake about twenty minutes. When I stopped to pull into a dock I had a very hard time getting it into neutral and was afraid I was going to break something if I pulled any harder. It finally slipped into neutral and from then on it went in and out of gear but it took a fair amount of effort to do so. Any ideas on what might be going on?

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Askieffer
2009 SL242

This has been answered before, I forget what the deal was. One of the guru's will be along shortly with the answer.

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2008 H210SS VP 5.7 Gi/SX
2011 Ford F150 FX4 EB

The shifter cable is probably bad. They use the basic Teleflex cable from the factory which is fairly cheap and nasty. I replaced mine with a Teleflex Extreme cable and it now shifts like a knife through butter!

Not a difficult job to do - will take you about an hour or so dependsing on how good you are with mechanical things.

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Alec

2006 Horizon 190
VP 4.3GL/SX, Sunsport

Thanks, I'm having the dealer look at it just in case as they think there might be something in the gear box with it being so new and happening out of the blue.

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Askieffer
2009 SL242

Mine was stiff from the factory from day 1 - I actually complained about it 1st service and they said it was normal... I was disappointed in this compared to other boats I owned, but lived with it until it began jamming. The Extreme cable now makes it shift really easy like my other boats...

As best I can figure out, the standard cable is brass, and as it is continually under water in the outdrive you get some water creep inside the cable and also some electrolysis going on inside the first few inches which makes it jam and drag. I use mine in salt water almost exclusively so may have made it worse with salt creeping up in it as well...

The Extreme cable is stainless steel and seems to work brilliantly with minimal effort. See if you can get the dealer to replace it under warranty - even if you have to pay $20 extra for the Extreme cable, it is well worth it in my opinion.

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Alec

2006 Horizon 190
VP 4.3GL/SX, Sunsport

My Xtreme cable is at about 5 years now and I think I'll have to replace it again.

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2002 Funship 214
VP 5.7 GX Si
2003 Tahoe

My shifter has also been stiff from day one but hard to keep at a constant slow speed (pulling the kid on a knee board at 14 mph, and yes, she is quite particular about the speed). At that speed it drifts back towards neutral. The dealer says it probably came with the extreme cable but they are picking it up today. I hope its a minor thing with the fourth coming up fast.

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Askieffer
2009 SL242

From memory, they started using the TFXtreme cables for shift from around 2006. That was with the older SX/ DPS drives though, not the newer ones which seem to have a more direct link from the cable to the shift lever.

Graham

How do you access the cable at the shifter? I'm was going to try to replace mine, but don't see how to access it....

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2002 Funship 214
VP 5.7 GX Si
2003 Tahoe

I don't know exactly on your boat, but on my '04 Sundowner, there are 2 screws on the lower part of the panel that the shifter is fitted into. Remove the screws and the panel lifts off. The shifter is held on by 4 screws and the kill cord switch nut. The cover is just clipped on.

Graham

I'll take another look, but I didn't notice any last night.

Thanks Graham,

Erik.

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2002 Funship 214
VP 5.7 GX Si
2003 Tahoe

I didn't undo my shifter at all - crawled down on my back and did everything from behind the shifter - not a difficult job.

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Alec

2006 Horizon 190
VP 4.3GL/SX, Sunsport

Right below the shifter there is a bolt that holds the gear lever on to the gear box. There is a rubber cover that hides it. I have the same type of issue that has been cleared up when I tighten the bolt on the gear lever. I would still check on the cable but maybe you can fix it by tighten up the bolt. It is worth a couple of minutes to look.

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2004 268 Vista "Satisfy My Sol"

It turns out there was a bushing in the lower drive unit that pushed out and was covered by warranty. If your in the area, Rambo Marine in Birmingham Alabama is a GREAT dealership.

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Askieffer
2009 SL242