Mercruiser 260 Shifting Problem

"My 1984 Searay Mercruiser 260

"My 1984 Searay Mercruiser 260 overheated this weekend and after letting the engine cool down, it started up fine. When I attempted to shift it into gear, the shift cable seems to be almost completely locked. It moves just enough (forward and reverse) to activate the interrupter switch, which stalls my engine. This is my first boat and I've owned it for a year. I never had a problem shifting before. Does anyone have any idea why the shift cable would "lock up" after an engine overheated? Any ideas how to troubleshoot this? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. THANKS!!!!"

"Sorry, I just registered and

"Sorry, I just registered and I realize that I posted this in the wrong area. Please disregard."

"shift cable routing on mercru

"shift cable routing on mercruiser lays right on exhaust y-pipe before exiting transom. how hot did it get? do you think you may have melted the cable? remember, exhaust is raw water cooled. was this the cause of the overheat? sure sounds like a shift cable problem."

"I'll check the cable and

"I'll check the cable and see if that is what happened. As far as the overheat, I'm still trying to figure that one out. I do know that the water pump in the lower drive is working fine, so I'll keep following the water flow until I solve the problem. Like I said, this is my first boat and I'm very new at this. Thanks for the advice Scott."

"Gday Jim
In addition you sho

"Gday Jim
In addition you should remove your drive and check your water pump. Whislt the drive is off check to see if you have shift cable movement if you do you may find that the rubber flaps in the Y collector have dislodged and is fouling on the shift in the drive, if not probably a melted shift cable.

Regards Spanaman"

When was the last time the man

When was the last time the manifold and risers were done

"I'm gonna guess that eith

"I'm gonna guess that either you picked somthing up on the drive and overheated the motor,or the pump took a crap,either way if the manifolds and risers are in sorry shape,in addition to either of the other ,then you got that thing HOT!I;m gonna guess that the exhaust hoses probably have little bubbles around the edges also,the combo of any of the above could melt that cable,start there.Need a mechanic?"

I changed out the lower shift

I changed out the lower shift cable and it is shifting fine. The overheat problems seems to be with the exhaust elbow on the starboard side and it occurs only intermittently. It consistently runs cool as long as I don't go too fast (about 2400 rpms). I am going to check this out when I get a chance.