Bombardier Recreational Products Inc.

Douglas M Goebel

Scott A Koerner

Thomas A Busse

A shift enabling interrupt system that facilitates the shifting of gears of an outboard engine is disclosed. The system is activated by the signal from a sensor that determines if the user is attempting to shift the gears by detecting a lost motion in a shift linkage manually activated by the user to shift the gear train of the engine. Upon such activation, the system ECU carries out a set of steps that periodically reduce the speed of the engine by disabling one or more cylinders to facilitate the gear shift. After a predetermined number of revolutions, the disabled cylinders are again enabled to return the engine speed back to normal operation. A timer establishes a maximum elapsed time to complete the shifting operation and the gear shifting itself is only permitted if the RPM of the engine is less that a predetermined value.

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Big Bend, WI, United States of America

Douglas M Goebel