Hello everyone. I have to admit, I know about three things, and outboard motor repair ain't one of them.<br /><br />I have a 7.5 Mercury-forgot to write down the serial number and I don't know the year. The manual I found was printed in '82, so I think that gets us in the ballpark. This motor came with the boat, which came with the house my wife and I bought last year.<br /><br />The motor had some water pump problems and the previous owner had it fixed for me as a nice gesture. The guy who fixed it is not a marine mechanic by any stretch, but he did fix the water pump.<br /><br />But, and this is the crux of the problem, the motor now starts in neutral but it is in forward gear, it doesn't shift well into forward, and reverse is neutral. To get reverse I have to really crank the shift lever back to barely engage it.<br /><br />Nothing seems to be wrong with the lower unit. I took it off and both the drive shaft and transmission shaft are in good shape.<br /><br />I took the hood off and everything seems to be working on the top end when I move the gear lever.<br /><br />Any ideas?
