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My outboard motor will not go in gear using the shifter, it will however go in to reverse. My father had the same problem when he had the boat. He would just reach back and tap the arm the cable is connected to with a boat paddle and it would go in gear and he did this for several years. So when he passed it on to me I thought it needed a new cable and bought a new one. It still didnt work, unless I didnt have it adjusted right or something (didnt really know what I was doing). After replacing the cable the lower unit went out shortly afterward (the motor is 18 years old and that was the first and only major problem.). After putting it in the shop and having that fixed, the guy hooked the cable up correctly and the first time I took the boat out it started right up and went right in to gear using the shifter. About an hour later I BARELY bumped a stump and the motor died, after restarting, it wouldnt go in to gear using the shifter again and still won’t, it’s back to tapping it with the boat paddle again. This happened last summer and I’m still using the boat paddle method. I’ve tried adjusting the cable but it still can’t get it to work, unless I’m not doing it right or enough. It’s a little annoying. When I remove the cable I can manually put it in gear by hand with little effort at all, so why does it struggle using the shifter control???? The shift cable is practically brand new!! Is it the shifter? Any help would be much appreciated. It’s such a pain because my choke doesn’t work anymore and I have to take the cowling off, put my foot over the carb, reach across the boat and turn the key, then jump in the seat, give gas, and try to “wack” it in to gear for it dies! LOL! It sucks! Kind of embarrassing too. Thanks in advance!! By the way its a ‘91 Evinrude 28hp SPL and it’s not a tiller motor it has steering column.
thanks for the help jtexas, but what about the shifting problem? Any thoughts?