Will not go in gear

[jeff689]

Have a 2003 Mercury 150 EFI It will not go into gear. I know nothing about boats. I can spin the prop with hand. When I start boat and move lever to foward and reverse prop doesn't spin. I tried moving the shifting cable by hand. It will push towards the boat just a hair and the propeller will start to spin but not engage the transmission. The shift lever will not go by hand or at all when you push it away from the boat. Should the shift lever have a good range of motion?

Any ideas?

 

[racerone]

Did it work ok last week ?----------Any more information that you care to share with us.-----------New to you boat ?

 

[jeff689]

JUst got boat guy claimed he ran it in the water and it went in gear just fine. New to me first time I tried to take it out. Also runs great out of the water ideles fine. In the water it dies and wont stay idling

 

[racerone]

It will run fine on a hose and " sound great " to a novice.------It will run fine on 3 cylinders.-------Do the first step and that is a compression test.------Then see if you have spark on all leads.