You may find that the Morse unit has failed, I've had this several times, what happens is that the gearing of the throttle and gear change, slip a tooth or two on the meshed cogs  and when the throttle is in the neautral (tick-over ) spot, the engine is actually in gear, sometimes the gear system jams up completely and you cannot move it.

It is rarely the bowden cables that beak or jam.

There are no service items on these Morse/Teleflex units, so you just have to bite the bullet and but a new one (Circa £100).

The other slight possibility is that the morse/teleflex unit has fallen apart and the big penny washer in the middle has dropped of, if so a new washer & machine screw will fix it.

Good luck with it!

Many thanks for you prompt reply Dave, it is much appreciated. I will investigate later this week when I visit the marina. Have you any tips on setting the tension of the throttle and bowden cables if everything else is OK (eg if nothing has broken)?

The throttle cable needs to be slack at tick over, so that when you engage gear it doesn't rev the engine until the lever has moved approx 20-degrees.  If it revs the engine too early it can wreck the gearbox and make manouvring a pain!

The gear cable must be set so that when the lever is in the middle, the gear actuator on the gear box is comfortably set in neutral if you diconnect the linkage you will feel that the axctautor is just sitting in neutral, than re attach the cable so it puts no pressure on the actuator in either direction - I'd put money on it that its the Morse/teleflex unit though!

It may be worth disconnectiing the gear cable and engaging the gears manually at the atuator, (on tick over & well tied up) just to make sure that the gearbox or the gear box clutches haven't failed!

Let's hope its the morse unit though!

You're a star David, I honestly think (and hope) this is what I've been waiting for. I will inform you of my findings as soon as known. Cheer again, George

Hi George,

Yes, there are usually adjustments to be made at the end of the cables to set up as per Davids advice. When the cables are removed from the Morse, the lever should then be relatively free to engage all positions both for revving without gears in forward and astern, and for engaging gear and going to revving positions. If the lever is stiff at all without cables connected, then the Morse needs a birthday inside.... i.e. washing out with a cleaner such as white spirit or WD40 and regreasing. 

I was heavily pooped two years ago near the end of the season and the cockpit was full to the brim. This meant that the Morse was under salt water for a few seconds before the water drained. 

After having wintered up, the lever was incredibly stiff wether in or out of gear and the reason was that salt had dried and caked everything up inside the morse box.  best of luck, Scotty

OUCH!

Before he takes it out...............

 It is worth trying it by  operating the gear box from the actuator with none of the Morse stuff attached - I'll put money on it that it will be ok! and the box will not need to come out.

You need to insist he does this before he strips the box out. Engineers don't like being told - but if you want to save money insist!

As I said at the start I've had this a couple of times and the gear box was just fine!!!!!!

This damage to the morse unit is not caused by the gear box failing, but by someone standing on the morse lever or by the morse system ceasing up internally. As Scotty mentioned.

The gear box will not be affected!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Point Taken! I'll insist and let you know the result.

My (almost) namesake Mr Evans is absolutely right.A few years ago I worked on a Bowman whose delightful but inexperienced new owners had been sold a new 'box by an "engineer".

Needless to say the problem-incorrectly set cables-didn't go away .The poor skipper thought clanging loudly into gear and minimum speeds of several knots were normal. I'd been employed to completely re-rig the boat but was very happy to spend 15 minutes solving a problem on which they had so far spent over £1000. The skipper-who had put an admirably brave face on manoeuvering under these handicaps-was overjoyed.

Are you sure there is nothing around the prop?

The Anode could have worked lose and be binding on the P bracket or hull.

The engine may be at too high revs when engaging gear, which is why I suggested removing the gear cable and engaging gear at the gearbox itself, with the engine at tick-over, then you start to identify where the problem is actually coming from.

Resist all impulses to do major stuff until the simple things are eliminated.

With modern machinery it is extremely rare for there to be a major fault, its invariably a simple thing causing the problem.

As an example, when do you ever see a car burning oil or with its ends (or camshaft) rattling, whereas 20 years ago as we all know this was commonplace. Engineering has improved immeasurably since the Japanese exerted their quality influence during the last 35 years!

As has already been said-always look for the simple things first-and always remember that it is a leisure boat engine and gearbox you are dealing with not a car! Great tendency because we all live with cars to transfer our way of thinking about cars to our boats. We forget that our useage of our boats mechanical gear usually is very light compared to a car.Therefore gearboxes should have a very long life unless abused and the main abuse is poor alignement with prop shaft and fitting too small a gearbox to a powerful engine-resulting in worn bearings/thrust washers/oil seals and ultimately internal workings.

Phil

First I l must once again thank everyone for their help and comments to my unfortunate prediculment.

Unfortunately, there isn't a marine engineer at our otherwise VERY modern marina where I am based at Hartlepool so have to resort to a chap who does a lot of work on engines for the fishing boats in the adjacent harbour. Having had a diver confirm my prop was completely clear, he has carried out all the instruction everyone has KINDLY forwarded. The morse controls is now completely free which allows engaging of forward and aft gear. The engine revs to the top of the clock when not engaged, but, when in gear, it will not rev higher than 500 (a quarter to on the clock). He removed and inspected the engine gear box (free of charge) when I was away from the boat and confirms there is nothing wrong with it. Would any of you kind colleagues like to enjoy a few days at my home and/or on my Moody 376? We live in a small village 3 miles from Darlington, called Hurworth on Tees - I will certainly pay your travel charges and a fare rate per hour? My telephone number is: 01325 720994.

PLEASE!

Can you only get these revs in both ahead & astern?

Sounds to me that there maybe something wong with the engine and it is that which is preventing it developing full power!

Now we have a whole new can of worms I'm afraid.

When trying to rev the engine, in gear, have you checked that the throttle on the engine is fully opened?

If so there can only be three things causing this -

1) Fuel

2) Compression

3) air (both in & out of the engine)

As it runs to full revs in neutral, I reckon air can be excluded. BTW when you rev it in neutral does it go right up to maximum revs and sit right against the governor ( you'll need to check in the handbook to see what the max working revs are, in neutral it should rev another 2-400 revs (approx) and then not go any higher - you wont damage the engine if you only do this for 20 seconds or so - the hand book ought to give the revs that the governor stops the revs at)

This leaves us with fuel or compression problems.

Fuel problems can be very complex, but diesels (apart from common rail ones) are really quite easy to fix. The sorts of problems are

A) not enough fuel is getting through - this is usually because the pipes or filters are blocked (Note the fuel bug gives this effect that you have described - as I know through bitter experience!).

B) the fuel is not atomising properly - i) the injectors need cleaning/resetting ii)the injector pump is faulty

C) Sometimes the governor is stuck and it doesn't allow sufficient fuel through to make the engine get revs on when it is under load - this is why I asked if the governor was doing its job when reved flat out in neutral

D) there is air in the fuel, this can usually be cured by carefully bleeding the system, however sometimes small air bubbles can be sucked into the fuel system on the fuel tank side of the lift pump - worth going over all the joints with a spanner to make sure no air is being sucked in.

Compression- low compression will prevent the engine developing maximum power, the only way to check this is with a proper diesel compression tester - this conveniently tells you all you need to know about the condition of the combustion chambers.

When was the engine last working properly?

On thinking about it more, unless you've got a major mechanical problem, I'd put money on it that you've got the fuel bug!

There really is only one chemical treatment that actually works (a big scientific test in PBO or YM a year or so ago. Nearly all of the treatments sold do not work! Even though chandlers still stock & sell them!

In your shoes I would buy some Marine 16, I used it and it worked -  nothing else did!

MARINE 16

www.marine16.co.uk

01792 466667

They sell both a bug treatment and an on-going bug preventer I'd buy both.

Its not particularly expensive and will cure the bug once and for all! Plus its a lot cheaper than paying someone to work for days on your engine. It must be worth a try!!!!

The symptoms you describe are exactly whaty I had when I caught the bug!