Shifter cable adj ?
 

Could a shift cable out of adjustment , cause somthing in my Bravo 1 to slip and cause enuff heat to burn the fluid. The cable was adjusted with the tool and was good, Pressure and vacum test held good, Its a C.P.O. by Merc. Why is my drive oil turning almost black after only 30 hrs. of med. duty use. While the other drive oil is still green. And yes my monitor is filling up , also switched the caps and still fills.

If the shift linkage moves too far it will cause the cam to rub on the brass ring and cause heat. Also if the gear stack is too short it can do the same thing.
The slot adjusts the amount of movement the cam gets. The barrel adjustment centers it in neutral. ..

Hope that helps.
Dick

Thanks for the reply. So does that mean I could get a false adjustment even with the tool ?One other thing, sometimes I have to jiggle the shifter before the engine will start which leads me to believe maybe something else needs adj. The cable from the motor to the drive is two years old, from motor to shifter no idea. Broke a gimbal ring a few years back and had to cut the cable to get the old one off. Thanks John

If the cable is off the right setting, would this also cause the engine to cut out or die off under low rpm's idling in gear.. my problem is that i just installed a carb engine from and efi, but when i put it gear it's not dock friendly at all. it will cut out or die off if i idle for long under 1000 rpms which is frustrating, i set the shift cable myself so could this be the problem or should i look somewhere else..sorry for not adding to the discussion..:-)
also do u need a tool to set the shift adjustment..

gaberdeen,
You dont need a tool to adjust it, just a good understanding of the operation of it. The tool takes the guess work out of it. If you pull the cable with the barrel out of it's holder (cotter pin) and shift the drive into Neutral. The barrel should slide right into it's holder. If it doesnt it is not centered. Adjust the barrel so it does. The slot adjusts the depth of the shift fork inside the drive. Too far and it rubs, not far enough and it may slip before it engages.
The Alpha drive used to have a cut out switch on it. But I dont know of any Bravo's that did. The neutral safety switch prevents if from starting, but doesn't kill the motor as you shift into gear.
If your motor will idle at 700-800rpm with no load and you put it in gear and cant keep it idling at that rpm, then either you have a lot of drag from the driveline or the AF ratio is not correct on the motor. In open water, can you get the motor to idle down, in gear? Will it stay at a certain rpm? If not, is your timing too retarded, does it change at an idle. I have run 32* at idle with a locked dist and it would idle fine. But the locked dist is for a large cam motor..
I dont believe your problem is the drive. I would look toward the motor for the ill mannered idle..
Hope this helps.
Dick

Gadgets, thanks for the reply..
And the Dmax sorry, and i don't mean to hijack your thread. but it sounds like we have simalar problems..

the motor idles find, with no load, but once i put it in gear, i have to come up on the throttle to keep it going, and idling under 1000rpms it will stumble and cut out which makes it difficult around docks..

i'm not sure it i was too comfortable witht the efi with just sticking it in gear and go, but now i have this performance carb motor it taking awhile to figure it out,

It sounds like a carb tuning issue. How much initial timing are you running???

34*, i've tried jets, different setting with the idle mixture screw, but still can't get where i can putt around under 1000rpms, especially around docks and other boats..but it runs great, just want it to be dock friendly..also what is the AF ratio

thanks

AF is air to fuel ratio. How much fuel you are giving the motor with a certain amout of air input.
I believe you have a carb issue also. How big is the cam? At what rpm will it idle in neutral?
Do your idle screws affect the idle when you turn them in and out? If not, you may need to open your secondaries and close the primaries to get them back over the air idle bleed slots. I think that is what they call them..
I would try moving the timing back to say 24* and just idle around to see it that helps. Of course you may need to adjust your idle screws again..
While it is idling.. look down the throat of the carb and see if there is fuel dumping out of the boosters?? Careful to not singe your eyes if it back fires..

Keep at it, you will find it.

Dick

trying to get the specs of the cam now, should i just try another carb..
it idles at about 800-900 rpms in neutral
idle screws does affect the idle when turning in and out
and when looking down the carb at idle, there is no fuel leaking in..
the engine builder said to send the carb back for tweaks, so i might just do that..

but really, i will rather sacrifice speed, to have this thing be dock friendly

thanks for the input,

how can u tell if the shifter moves too far causing the cam to rub, and could this be the reason for the engine stumbling at low rpms..

gaberdeen,
If it was, you would see the oil turn black with little time on it.. In a few hours it would smell burnt and have yellow metal in it.
There is a measurement for that slot, just checked the manual. From the pivot bolt to the adjustment stud it should be 3" or 76mm. That should give you the proper depth.
I ran around in open water and pulled the cable off and shifted it into neutral, lined up the barrel and then shifted it into gear. If it went in ok... I would change the slot adjustment.. till it was a problem, then put it back some. Not very scientific, but it did work, for me. I ended up having a modified shift fork cam and it was causing me problems.. Replaced it and it worked fine. My original problem was not going into gear after I had to make an emergency landing at the dock one time.. :(
After looking at the manual and measuring my depth adj, I found it at 3 1/8", so mine is too deep and I have no problems with it.
If you want to eliminate the drive, pull it off and spin the input shaft by hand. It should have some drag on it, but nothing excessive. It will be in Rev when you pull it off. The cable sticks out of the face of the drive for Rev, when using a RH prop..

Keep us posted.

Dmax, check the neutral center adj and depth adjustment on yours also. If you have to pull the drive and see if it rotates in gear easy and out of gear also. Remember you need to turn the input shaft to get a Bravo to shift..
If there is black oil something it causing it. I would have it looked into. Before you went too far with it. It might be bearing problem. Just hard to tell without looking.

Dick

thanks, cause the way i set my gear shift, was when the engine was in stalled and drive, i had no reverse, so i manually just backed it out to i got forward and reverse and went with that..so it's no percise measurement there..

Q

Q, As mentioned if you have the thottle blade open to far to keep the engine idling, you will get no signal to the idle circuit. The idle mixture screws should have an effect on the idle when adjusted. Opening the rear blades a little lets you close the front blades to get that signal back.

The power valve circuit shouldnt have an impact on the idle quality, but I like to keep my power valves from opening at idle by comparing engine vacuum to the PV#. Example: If the engine idles at 8in of vaccum make sure your PV is a 7.5 or lower.

Also, I dont know what kind of distributor your running, but depending on the advance springs in it, you can very easily be seeing some mech. advance at 1000rpm, but when put in gear you loose that advance, which will weaken your idle. MSD makes a timing kit that allows you to dial in a MSD ignition very easily with directions and graphs.

Q, I do see by your pictures that your running a MSD dist. Very easy to check by pulling the cap and checking spring color and mech timing stop as well. An example: I'm running a black timing stop(13 degrees), initial set at 13degrees, a light silver and a heavy silver spring brings all my timing in by 3000rpm, starting at 1200rpm(26 degrees total). I dont know if this is beyond your means, but with the carb and timing properly set you should have a strong idle in gear, I know I do.. Good luck.

LE

Mr Gadgets,
Have you ever noticed a left rotation Bravo running warmer then a right rotation drive? Reason being, this year I started watching drive temps, and my left drive runs almost 30 degrees warmer then my right. Both are cooled by an intercooler dump and similar drive showers. The highest reading I have seen was in the 280 degree range.

If so can this be Dmax's issue. I dont know if he's running a shower or not.

LE

I have not spent time with twins and temp gauges. I do have one customer that one drive is hotter than the other, and we are still looking at the cause. I don't remember if it is the RH or LH.
I do know one friend could see the 280* mark and his drive shower would take 50* out of it.. One broke off and he compared the two temps.
By rights they should run the same, but I have not experimented with it.. to see if and why..
Sorry, not much input on that..
Dick

thanks guys