Putting the throttle in forward or reverse with the engine off yielded a free spin on the prop. This meant to me that either the linkage was off, the cable broke or something hideous internal to the lower unit.
I pulled the hood off the engine and quickly located two linkages. My son moved the throttle from neutral to forward to reverse. Only the throttle linkage moved (red arrow) This was encouraging. I pulled the pedestal apart.
The first thing I found was that the tilt switch wires had slipped off again. This must have happened on the trip back from the lake. I located the linkage inside the pedestal and moved it from forward to reverse. no change on the motor side of the linkage.
That meant to me that perhaps the issue was with the trottle lever. I started messing around with it and my wife said that both linkages were moving!!!
Turns out that it was idiotic user error. My old (1979) power boat had a very different throttle. With the old one, you pulled the throttle out from the housing and then moved it forward and reverse. If you wanted a neutral bypass to rev the engine out of gear, there was a small lever to flip.
It didn't dawn on me that the new fangled throttle was different. I had been pulling it out and moving it forward/reverse. This effectively is a neutral bypass.
Had I looked that the throttle handle, it shows an arrow to pull up. Do that and the engine goes into gear as it should! lol I'd rather be embarrassed by idiocy than have to have my new motor serviced! I hooked up my water muffs and started the motor to ensure I was right.
The red circle shows water splashing from the spinning prop! Hard to believe I have many years experience with power boats!So all is well that ends well. A learning experience for me. My wife decided that she will indeed continue to make payments... WHEW!!!
Now I've put Galactica to bed in her barn and am waiting for the next trip to a lake!
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