Engine won't start - Gearbox linkage?

[Keir Hood]

Don, or Anyone,

Thank you for hosting and all the great info. I am a newish owner of a catalina 27 with Atomic 4. After winter storage, I realized that the shift lever (cockpit) has to be slightly aft to find neutral. I disconnected the linkage and tried to shift by hand (in an attempt to recenter the cable for neutral). I do find it hard to shift by hand, and after trying several times, i reconnected as it was.

After that, I couldn't start the engine (which was fine an hour before). Just canked away. Someone told me that there is a safety that prevents starting when shifter not in Neutral. Is that true?

Any advice on why the shifter would need to be in a different spot all of a sudden.

Thank you,

Keir Hood

[jhwelch]

Unless one of the previous owners added some kind of safety
switch on your boat there's no must-start-in-neutral function
built into an Atomic 4.

If your shift cable is hard to operate even when it is disconnected
from the shift lever on the engine there may be a fault in your
cable. It's possible the sheathing has cracked or split and
is causing additional friction.

Moving the shift lever manually (with cable disconnected) should
be a bit of a pull. You'll hear the reversing gear give a click
once it is fully in forwards. Pushing the lever back for reverse
is also a bit stiff, as that operation causes a band to slowly
tighten around the reversing drum.

While you were disconnecting your shift cable you may have
disturbed wires going to the distributor cap or to the coil. Check those to
make sure everything is snugly connected.

-jonathan

[Don Moyer]

Keir,

There is no safety switch anywhere on the transmission of the Atomic 4 that would prevent your engine from starting, which leaves unanswered of course why your engine would all of a sudden fail to start. For that part of your dilemma, I'm attaching a pdf file of our abbreviated checklist for non-starting engines.

Don