Suzuki 9.9 4-t will not disengage forward gear

[Skylark]

I have a pal with a small canal cruiser fitted with a Suzuki 9.9 4-t outboard. It is well overpowered for the boat but that’s another issue.

The engine is removed and taken to an approved service agent when required. Like many boats, it’s lightly used, only a small number of hours per year.

Recently it’s become near impossible to take out of forward gear using the cable control box. He recently broke the plastic cable end fitting by excess force. Now once it’s in forward gear, I’ve had to remove the cable end fitting and use a fair amount of force to push the gear select lever into neutral.

Any suggestions, please?

I know very little about outboards (I have the ubiquitous Tohatsu 2.5 2-t for my tender) but I’ve been thinking about gearbox oil, especially slippery additives?

A few weeks ago the prop caught a Marks & Spencer woolly jumper (that had been thrown into the canal). There’s no excessive vibration so I don’t think this is related but worth mentioning.

Many thanks in advance.

 

[Stingo]

The University of YouTube pointed me in the right direction for fixing all the troubles and woes I've had with my Suzuki (none of which were Suzuki issues, but rather a lack of maintenance by the previous owner)

 

[Boathook]

I would take the gearbox off and then see whether the controls move easily. If it doesn't the problem is by the engine where the cable motion is transferred to an up down one. Can be a big strip down of the engine to resolve if you are unlucky. Normally involves a nylon bush, aluminium and saltwater not mixing well !

 

[Skylark]

YT is far too Russel Group for me, @Stingo so I tried the Red Brick google. It seems fairly common.

Thanks, too @Boathook I fear you're also pointing me (him) in the right direction. It doesn't look like an easy fix. Spraying the external linkage to the gearchange (not the cable connection) with WD40 is about as far as I'd like to go.

Oh dear.

 

[C08]

I had a problem getting my 25HP Yamaha out of gear. It turned out not to be the control box just the carb linkage that was sticking a little and not allowing the engine down to tickover speed. It was not very fast but it seems any drive still on does not allow the dog clutch to disengage. That was an inspired tip to me from a forumite. It may not be your friends problem but is useful to know this. feature on outboard engines.

 

[Skylark]

Thanks for taking the time to reply.

Our issue, fortunately, was related to the linkage. Recently, my friend broke the cable-end connector by forcing the lever once too often. The replacement needed fettling, as had been the broken one but we didn’t look closely enough.

There is a nearby bracket to hold throttle cable. The gear shift cable-end can’t return from forward gear unless it’s chamfered. We also filed down a the throttle cable bracket a couple of mm to give extra clearance.

The problem became obvious when we removed the engine lower side panel. All very crude engineering, surprised to see it but delighted that it was nothing more sinister.

 

[Beneteau381]

I have a pal with a small canal cruiser fitted with a Suzuki 9.9 4-t outboard. It is well overpowered for the boat but that’s another issue.

The engine is removed and taken to an approved service agent when required. Like many boats, it’s lightly used, only a small number of hours per year.

Recently it’s become near impossible to take out of forward gear using the cable control box. He recently broke the plastic cable end fitting by excess force. Now once it’s in forward gear, I’ve had to remove the cable end fitting and use a fair amount of force to push the gear select lever into neutral.

Any suggestions, please?

I know very little about outboards (I have the ubiquitous Tohatsu 2.5 2-t for my tender) but I’ve been thinking about gearbox oil, especially slippery additives?

A few weeks ago the prop caught a Marks & Spencer woolly jumper (that had been thrown into the canal). There’s no excessive vibration so I don’t think this is related but worth mentioning.

Many thanks in advance.

IIRC the operating shaft runs through the exhaust etc casing and seizes up with carbon seawater etc. Remove the power head. Carefully remove the shaft and clean and grease