Home › Forum › Ask A Member › 40 HP Evinrude electric shift question
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fleetwin.
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July 22, 2025 at 3:38 pm #298405
A friend is bringing a 1960s 40 HP Evinrude electric shift motor to me that hasn’t been run for abut 30 years to see if it can be made to run. A dealer told his grandfather years ago that there is no compression (we will see! – I’ve heard that line before when dealers didn’t want to work on an old motor). My friend tried to pull it over by hand recently and said it is seized. It has electric shift. Am I remembering right that someone said here a while back that these motors lock up in the gearcase when no battery is applied and the ignition switch is off? or should it pull over when dormant with no battery? (assuming the throttle is not up too high to lock the recoil). I’ve never worked on an electric shift model before.
Hoping the claim of no compression is just a head gasket blown between the cylinders.
Thx,
Dave
July 22, 2025 at 5:03 pm #298411I had one of those electric shift Evinrudes years ago.
I was thinking that if the electric portion craps out,
that it defaults for “Forward” gear so you can get home.
I’m not sure though if it would lock up the motor?Prepare to be boarded!
July 22, 2025 at 11:34 pm #298419ISTR there were two generations of electric shift.
I believe the first generation requires energizing the forward coil to go forward (defaults to neutral) in the 60’s.
The second generation (in the 70’s? called hydro-electric??) may default to forward.
http://www.omc-boats.org
http://www.aerocraft-boats.orgJuly 24, 2025 at 10:42 am #298476ISTR there were two generations of electric shift.
I believe the first generation requires energizing the forward coil to go forward (defaults to neutral) in the 60’s.
The second generation (in the 70’s? called hydro-electric??) may default to forward.
Yes, two generations of the electric shift units. The old 40hp models had the first generation, so the unit defaults to neutral when no power is supplied to either magnetic clutch coil.
There is the remote possibility of some sort of short circuit that may be supplying power to both coils at the same time though, which would lock up the engine, not real likely though. Easy enough to test though, simply disconnect the battery. If you can crank it with the recoil now then there is a short somewhere.
Like any other gearcase, there is the possibility that something is damaged in the gearcase locking up the engine so you may want to begin by draining/inspecting the gear lube.
July 24, 2025 at 11:28 am #298480Thx everyone for the info. Being a 1962, it is the early version that should default to neutral. I don’t have it here to work on yet.
Draining gear oil is something I always do early-on when working on a motor. It’s always interesting to see what does….or doesn’t….come out!
Dave
July 25, 2025 at 8:20 am #298506Yes, the 62 models used the earlier electric shift design that will default to neutral with no power supplies to the unit. Be sure to use the OMC/BRP “premium blend” gear lube only, heavier lubes will not work properly.
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