Port engine stuck in gear

[dan00281]

Hi all, at the weekend my Port side engine got stuck in forward gear and wouldn’t go back into neautral. I’m awaiting an engineer but wonder what peoples thoughts might be as to what it was , im told it could be the actuator or the gear cable in which case the boat needs to come out the water but is there anything else I can check first? 2010 fairline targa 38 with Volvo D4,300 engines . Thanks

 

[philipdawsonladds]

Do you have a stern drive? Could be something simple like the pin attaching the gear cable to the lever has dropped off. Snorkel and mask would confirm - you might be able to sense this if the cable is loose but ineffective.

 

[SC35]

If you disconnect the gear cable from the actuator, you should find that you can shift by pulling/pushing the gear cable.
This can be done from inside the engine bay without a snorkel or mask
If it moves freely without doing anything, then yes, maybe something has become disconnected underwater.

If the actuator has failed because it has become overloaded by a stiff cable, you'll need to change both.

Do you get any EVC fault codes on the display?

 

[dan00281]

If you disconnect the gear cable from the actuator, you should find that you can shift by pulling/pushing the gear cable.
This can be done from inside the engine bay without a snorkel or mask
If it moves freely without doing anything, then yes, maybe something has become disconnected underwater.

If the actuator has failed because it has become overloaded by a stiff cable, you'll need to change both.

Do you get any EVC fault codes on the display?

Yeah had an actuator fault flashing but engineer has confirmed that the gear box cable has snapped boat has to come out.. as far as I know the actuator is fine.

 

[SC35]

Even with the lift, new cable is cheaper than new actuator which in turn is cheaper than new HCU.
I have some recent experience with that last one