5.7 Mercruiser stalling out when going to reverse.

[cking928]

I am having a problem with my engine stalling and shutting completely off when going from neutral to reverse. I have verified the lower shift cable adjustment and my boots look good on the lower so im not seeing any water or corrosion in there. anybody have any other suggestions for what could cause this problem? going from neutral to forward is no problem.

 

[Bt Doctur]

reverse is a cable pulling operation and crud can get behind the shift slide. pull the drive , disconnect the lower shift cable from inside the boat and push the slide in until it touches the inside of the housing.(if you can)
If not you need a new lower cable

 

[cking928]

your talking about the plastic slide on the shift mechanism on the left hand side of the carb correct?

 

[Bt Doctur]

and push the slide in until it touches the inside of the housing , the red arrow . if it dosent bottom out there is mud and crud that was pushed inside the slide and is preventing it from going in all the way

 

[cking928]

Thanks for all the help so far bt doctor. Also I noticed while doing some maint this week that my left side engine mount bolts were loose. tried to tighten them down but seem stripped. is this going into a wood or fiberglass mount? any good fixes for this?