greenalien
New member
I'm posting this because I found that there was a general lack of info available elsewhere, and it took me some exploration to solve the problem myself.
If you have a Mariner 3.3 (or Mercury 3.3) with a N/F gear change, you should be able to move the shift lever with one finger. If it's stiffer than that, the following may be of interest, and save you some grief, as once it starts stiffening up, it will soon jam completely, leaving you unable to get out of Forward gear or out of Neutral.
The shift lever passes through the lower part of the engine power head and is sealed by 2 'O' rings. If/when the outer one fails, sea water gets between the lever shaft and the casing, soon filling the available space with salt; the casing also begins to corrode, making it a tighter fit on the shaft.
To sort this out, it is necessary to remove the small access panel (2 x 10mm bolts) behind the lifting handle, which gives access to the inner end of the shift lever. Take care not to damage the soft rubber gasket underneath it. A 10mm socket with a long extension bar is useful here.
Removing the lifting handle also helps, as otherwise one of its securing bolts fouls one of the cover plate bolts.
Once you can see the inner end of the shift lever shaft, use a well fitting cross point screwdriver to completely remove the screw that holds the shaft to the inner shift lever.
You will then need to careful jiggle the shift lever out, which will be more or less difficult, depending on how seized up it is! You can apply a little leverage on the inner end of the shaft with a flat screwdriver, also pry it out with a screwdriver under the outer edge, take care not to damage the plastic lever, lots of WD40 also helps, gentle pressure and keep jiggling it and it should eventually come out.
Caution - there is a spring-loaded ball bearing located under the rear outer rim of the shift lever that provides the detent as the lever clicks into place, take care not to lose it or the spring.
Once the lever is removed, clean it up and replace the 2 'O' rings, I got a small assortment from Halfords for £1.33 which included 2 the right size. Scrape out any salt and corrosion from the casing hole, I found greased abrasive paper was useful for this. Now the shaft should be liberally coated with silicone grease and should easily slide back into place, not forgetting the spring and ball bearing. Reassemble everything, and the gear change should now only need light pressure.
Now I know how easily the lever should move, I'll be sure to pull everything apart and fix it if/when it starts to stiffen up again.
Hope this is of use to someone, these are great little motors that are well worth keeping going as long as possible!
If you have a Mariner 3.3 (or Mercury 3.3) with a N/F gear change, you should be able to move the shift lever with one finger. If it's stiffer than that, the following may be of interest, and save you some grief, as once it starts stiffening up, it will soon jam completely, leaving you unable to get out of Forward gear or out of Neutral.
The shift lever passes through the lower part of the engine power head and is sealed by 2 'O' rings. If/when the outer one fails, sea water gets between the lever shaft and the casing, soon filling the available space with salt; the casing also begins to corrode, making it a tighter fit on the shaft.
To sort this out, it is necessary to remove the small access panel (2 x 10mm bolts) behind the lifting handle, which gives access to the inner end of the shift lever. Take care not to damage the soft rubber gasket underneath it. A 10mm socket with a long extension bar is useful here.
Removing the lifting handle also helps, as otherwise one of its securing bolts fouls one of the cover plate bolts.
Once you can see the inner end of the shift lever shaft, use a well fitting cross point screwdriver to completely remove the screw that holds the shaft to the inner shift lever.
You will then need to careful jiggle the shift lever out, which will be more or less difficult, depending on how seized up it is! You can apply a little leverage on the inner end of the shaft with a flat screwdriver, also pry it out with a screwdriver under the outer edge, take care not to damage the plastic lever, lots of WD40 also helps, gentle pressure and keep jiggling it and it should eventually come out.
Caution - there is a spring-loaded ball bearing located under the rear outer rim of the shift lever that provides the detent as the lever clicks into place, take care not to lose it or the spring.
Once the lever is removed, clean it up and replace the 2 'O' rings, I got a small assortment from Halfords for £1.33 which included 2 the right size. Scrape out any salt and corrosion from the casing hole, I found greased abrasive paper was useful for this. Now the shaft should be liberally coated with silicone grease and should easily slide back into place, not forgetting the spring and ball bearing. Reassemble everything, and the gear change should now only need light pressure.
Now I know how easily the lever should move, I'll be sure to pull everything apart and fix it if/when it starts to stiffen up again.
Hope this is of use to someone, these are great little motors that are well worth keeping going as long as possible!
