Last weekend I made a mistake and tried to start the motor without having the external fuel tank air valve open. The result: it did not start. But I yanked on the starter so hard, and so many times that I knocked the pawl that locks the pull cord (when not in neutral) out of its position and the starter pull cord became locked, i couldn't manually release it.
This past weekend I took the motor off the sailboat and mounted it on the dock and removed the pull start assembly and moved the pawl into place, and was able to pull clearly.
Once I put the motor back on the boat, I was able to get a clean start right away, which is great. At the end of the sail, I had to finesse the shifter into a delicate middle point in order to free the pull cord, and once started, the shifter would not go back into neutral. This is obviously not a sustainable or safe way to operate.
Does anyone have any suggestions as to what I am not getting, maybe a small plastic part missing? I just cant visualize the mechanics of how the shifter is supposed to "fall into" neutral. BTW, this motor was fully serviced, lubed and tested at the dealership, and I picked it up less than a week before this incident. I am sorry if I am not using the right technical terms here, I am not a mechanical person by nature.
I've attached the exploded diagram from Mercury here, although it appears to be shown upside down.
This past weekend I took the motor off the sailboat and mounted it on the dock and removed the pull start assembly and moved the pawl into place, and was able to pull clearly.
Once I put the motor back on the boat, I was able to get a clean start right away, which is great. At the end of the sail, I had to finesse the shifter into a delicate middle point in order to free the pull cord, and once started, the shifter would not go back into neutral. This is obviously not a sustainable or safe way to operate.
Does anyone have any suggestions as to what I am not getting, maybe a small plastic part missing? I just cant visualize the mechanics of how the shifter is supposed to "fall into" neutral. BTW, this motor was fully serviced, lubed and tested at the dealership, and I picked it up less than a week before this incident. I am sorry if I am not using the right technical terms here, I am not a mechanical person by nature.
I've attached the exploded diagram from Mercury here, although it appears to be shown upside down.