b69 Evinrude 55 hp Electric Shift Wonbt shift to Neutral

"I have a 1969 Evinrude 55 wit

"I have a 1969 Evinrude 55 with push button electric shift. It starts in gear, will shift into reverse and then back to forward but will not shift into neutral (when the button is in neutral the motor is in forward). I have changed the lower unit oil with the Premium oil that it is supposed to have but it had Type C oil in it previously when it stopped shifting to neutral. It also had some water mixed in so I know that I also have a leak somewhere. Any ideas about a cheap easy fix. It worked OK and when it acted up like this I asked around locally and was told to try changing the oil first. I did and then took it out yesterday and still no neutral.

The boat is a 1969 Crestliner 14' aluminum runabout and I am considering chopping it into a plain fishing boat with a casting platform up front and replacing the motor with something smaller if it can't be fairly easily and inexpensively fixed. Any ideas?
Thanks
Mike"

"Disconnect shift wires that l

"Disconnect shift wires that lead to the lower unit at the powerhead.

With engine running, apply 12 volts to the lower unit Green wire. That should give you neutral.

Now, apply 12 volts to both the lower unit Green and Blue wire. That should give you reverse.

No voltage to either lower unit wire should give you forward.

If the above holds true for you, the lower unit is okay and the problem is elsewhere, possibly a voltage drop due to bad wiring or the shift switch. Let us know what you find.

Thousands of parts in my remaining stock. Not able to list them all. Let me know what you need and I'll look it up for you. Visit my eBay store at:

http://stores.ebay.com/Evinrude-Johnson-Outboard-Parts-etc?refid=store"