Mercury Pro XS shift concern

This topic has 7 replies, 3 voices, and was last updated 14 years, 1 month ago by bassplayer6210.

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April 25, 2012 at 1:41 am #260572

bassplayer6210
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I have a 2008 Mercury Pro XS with a shift concern when you start the boat and shift from nuetral to forward and go to take off and hit 1,800 rpms the the alarm sounds and engine overspeed displays on the guage you then stop shift into neutral shift into reverse and then back to neutral then forward you can take off. Im new to owning a bass boat so I took the boat to a merc tech recommended to me by a friend left the boat there for 2 weeks. They then contacted me and said there was a micro switch that needed to be cleaned. I had them clean it at my expense even though motor is still under warranty. I took the boat out and still had same problem did not work once. Also after this service I now get loss of communication message as well on smart craft gauges intermittently which concerns me I dont know if this could be related to anything they did or not but it was not there before. I have left several messages at the place where service was performed and they will not return my call. So I contacted Mercury and they refered me to another place. My question is what could this be? If it ends up being this micro switch should it be covered under warranty? If not how much should I expect to pay for it approximitly? Could the loss of comunication be related? I would take my boat to the nearest Bass Cat dealer however they are 3 hours away in one direction and would like to build a relationship closer to home so I dont have to travel that distance every time I need service however it would not be completely out of the question. Any thoughts on this concern would be great.

April 25, 2012 at 12:05 pm #260573

Gary Hollander
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On a 2007 Cougar FTD/250 Pro XS, I had the same issue, and it was the switch. A $20 part that cost me a couple of tournaments and plenty of embaressment! There was too much grease on mine, and it would stick, go into Guardian Mode, shut down and throw the codes. It thinks you are “over-reving”.I called it a “neutral switch” for lack of a better term, and had documented my problem on this board back in the day. Dealer finally took one off a 200hp Merc, and all was well.If still under warranty, great; if not an easy fix and $20…Good Luck.

April 25, 2012 at 11:38 pm #260574

bassplayer6210
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Thanks Gary for the advice.

April 26, 2012 at 4:24 am #260575

Tnbigdaddy
Participant

If you have a hot foot be sure you are pushing the shift lever far enough forward to disengage the neutral position sensor. With just a little movement of the shifter the engine will go from neutral to forward gear, but still not be moved off the neutral position sensor and cause the alarm on acceleration over 1800 rpms. Push the shift lever all the way forward and see if that fixes the issue. I was pretty embarrassed to find out that it was me causing the issue by not pushing the shifter far enough forward in a effort to keep it off my leg. The moving from forward to neutral and back again made the problem consistently intermittent (LOL) because I would sometimes push the shifter far enough forward to get it off the switch.Don’t have any input on the loss of communication issue.

April 26, 2012 at 12:06 pm #260576

Gary Hollander
Participant

I dont run hot foots and had the issue. Also, got the “Communication Lost” message as well…

April 26, 2012 at 5:01 pm #260577

bassplayer6210
Participant

Yes the problem still happens with the shift lever all the way forward good thought though. Gary was the “communication lost” related or a separate problem? I have an appointment to get boat looked at in a couple of weeks. My main concern would be could the communication lost cause a problem with the boat starting and running I would like to use it between now and then.

April 30, 2012 at 11:57 am #260578

Gary Hollander
Participant

Happened at same time so maybe related; once I got the switch replaced, I never got either again…I bought an extra switch and carried it just in case–never needed it, but made me feel better. First trip to dealer should have solved the problem as the boat was NEW; it didnt and like I said earlier, took three visits and lost time and efforts for a lousy $20 switch!Good Luck!

April 30, 2012 at 8:04 pm #260579

bassplayer6210
Participant

Ok thanks
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