TOPIC: Electramatic 75hp stuck in Reverse

Well, I finally stumbled upon my first 'Electramatic', (V4AL-17 S) came on a nice '66 MFG Westfield. The seller said that it ran good but was 'stuck' in reverse last time out a few years back. The good news is that I have other motors. My general feeling is that this is a common scenario with the electrics. I see a lot of them out there with good power heads and bod L/U. I guess my question is...is there anything I should check, that could be a 'simple fix'? Otherwise, I guess the only hope is to relegate it to the back row, and hope to stumble upon a seized up 75hp with a manual lower... Thanks...

If I recall, your Electramatic lower unit is the old "bullet-nose" style smaller gearcase which has a Fwd and Reverse spring clutch along with Fwd and Reverse magnets.

As long as there is power to one or the other magnets, that gear is engaged. The magnet causes the respective Fwd or Reverse coil to grip the propshaft and spin the shaft in the proper direction.

There are 2 wires going down to the lower unit, only one wire is energized at a time; Green is for Forward and Blue is for Reverse.

The way I remember those is, "G" is for "Go" and "B" is for "Backup"!!

On this type of electric shift unit, if there is no power to a wire, there is no gear. If for some reason power was to be applied to both wires at the same time, the lower unit would be locked-up.

At any rate, for the lower unit to be "stuck" in reverse gear, it has to have power on it all the time. I expect you'll find that with the motor off, the prop spins freely in either direction.

Evinrudes with electric shift have 3 pushbuttons on the remote control, but Johnsons use an internally-mounted switch with a bellcrank. As I recall you can take the side cover/plate off the remote and see the switch inside.

If this switch were bad or stuck, it could send power to the Reverse magnet all the time the ign is “On”.

Most of the time the end of the spring breaks and then you have no gear at all! At least you've got Reverse!!!

I have distinct memories of when I was a kid and my Dad's Glasspar Avalon with a 60(?) hp Electramatic Evinrude broke the Forward gear spring and we had to back up all the way to the boat ramp! My Uncle and I were up on the bow so water wouldn't rush over the stern. Fun Times!

Anyway, the switch is the first thing I'd check. You can also get at the upper wiring harness via the Stbd. side of the motor. If you have a hard time accessing it, pull the back-lower part of the motor shroud. If you have to remove the lower unit for work, you'll need it off anyway, to get at the entry plate for the shift cable.

Don't damage that lower shift cable, either, since I'm pretty sure it's NLA and was hundreds of dollars when it last was available years ago!

HTH & let us know what you find.........ed

Thanks so much for the quick reply. I will let you know what I find out...

Lunch time up-date, I connected a battery and gas tank, turned the key and it fired right up! I shut it down immediately, put the barrel under it and filled it up with water. I restarted it, and it runs and pumps water! I shifted into forward and nothing, shifted into reverse and goes right in. Now, I did notice that when the 'Start' throttle lever is moved, the entire cable, housing and all, moves. So something is not right in the shifter housing, perhaps that is the problem...more to come

You might take a jumper wire and attach it to the positive terminal of your battery with the other end touching the green terminal located behind the powerhead. Just slide the rubber sleave/tube off the color coded knife connecters and apply 12v to one, one at a time and see if there's resistance to turning the prop(with the ignition switch off). If the prop engages,I would think you just need a switch like ED says. Here's a blurry pic of the wires to disconnect.Hope this helps

Also, I forgot to mention..To test forward,turn the prop counter clock wise and reverse, clock wise. It draws the spring tight against the hub like it would in normal operation.jim

When you operate the " throttle only " lever the cable is SUPPOSED to move !

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In fact a manual would tell you not to anchor that cable too close to the box.

professor wrote:

When you operate the " throttle only " lever the cable is SUPPOSED to move !

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In fact a manual would tell you not to anchor that cable too close to the box.

Exactly, the cable will move up and down, as its mounting socket in the control box is used as a pivot point.

Just a follow-up on testing, if you put +12V to both green and blue wires, and the magnets and coils are working right, it'll lock up the propshaft, it won't rotate in either direction.

And it appears the L/U actually isn't "stuck" in Reverse, but rather there is no Forward gear.

Which could be the clutch spring, magnet, switch, wiring, or in rare cases, the drive clutch.

But I'd be first looking to an electrical issue.

You can either start at the control box & work your way back, or eliminate a lot of guessing and disconnect the green wire back at the motor.

With the ign "On" and control lever in Forward position, check for power to ground on the green wire coming from the electrical harness.

Do a resistance check at the other green wire which goes to the lower unit. You should get some defined resistance to ground, I can't recall the value but it won't be extremely low, and definitely shouldn't indicate an open circuit, either.

Easy way to energize the lower unit is, with the green Fwd wire disconnected, take a battery charger; hook Neg lead to a good ground on the block; connect Pos lead to the green wire going directly to the lower unit. If it sparks while connecting, you've got current flowing thru the coil.

The prop should lock in one direction and turn freely in the other.

These checks oughta give you a good idea where the problem lies.

G'luck with the troubleshooting.......ed

OK, I really didn't get a chance to get back to it tonight, good thing, because I'd never thought that the whole cable housing should move. So hopefully I'll get a chance to check it over tomorrow afternoon. Thanks for all the great help!

I finally got a chance to check the 75 out a little more, with the key on, I can hear reverse click in when I pull the shifter back, but not in forward, although the Green wire does energize, at least at the top...I did not have time to check any further...Is it out of the question to replace the coil if the indication is that that's the problem, or just cost prohibitive?

testing is the path forward.----What is the ohm reading on the 2 coils ?

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Green to the geardase and blue to the gearcase ?

55bigtwin wrote:

I finally got a chance to check the 75 out a little more, with the key on, I can hear reverse click in when I pull the shifter back, but not in forward, although the Green wire does energize, at least at the top...I did not have time to check any further...Is it out of the question to replace the coil if the indication is that that's the problem, or just cost prohibitive?

Time to pull the gearcase and check the lower set of wires for discontinuity. After that, it's tear-down time! :0

These can be quite Horrid to work on, especially if they've been in salt water.

At that point, if you have a Salty Dog, I'd start looking for a scrap motor (bad powerhead, etc) with a decent lower unit.

If you're really, really adventurous, the coil can be replaced, you'll get an excellent education in these lower units, that's fer sur!!

Biggest issue might be finding a good coil.

G'luck........ed

p.s. be extremely careful with the electric shift cables, if you break them, might as well start looking for another lower unit for parts!!!!

If you find yours is Gunnysack, this might be the way to go:



Here's an eBay link and retail link to the 378549 Fwd Gear coil assy:



www.marineengine.com/newparts/part_details.php?pnum=OMC0378549&ptype=&Engine=&Model=

HTH............ed

that L/U is tempting, there's also a 'barn find' 90hp (V4A 14 L) motor, locally, (180 mile round trip) for $150. obo. But condition 'unknown'. Because I have other motors, I'm really not bored enough yet to want to tear into the L/U...
I don't suppose there's any chance that the 75hp power head would bolt to one of my old 'Fat Fifty' lowers??? Thanks for all the help, really good info.

The 75 HP power head bolts right up to a " fat 50 " no problems.

Wow, thanks for the info, I can feel the wheels a turnin...