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1998 225 Johnson shift/return to neutral

H

humm9er

Member
I replaced my waterpump this year.

When I dropped the LU, it was in neutral; when I put the LU back on (with gearcase in neutral), the hole in the shift rod lined up fine with the shift lever in the motor, and the bolt went in through the eye of the shift rod no problem.

Tested shift on the earmuffs, no problem.

Put it in water for season yesterday. Motor starts in neutral, shifts into forward, and shifts into and out of reverse.

However, when coming down in RPMs in gear and into neutral, about half the time it doesnt click right into neutral. A minor jerk of the binnacle toward reverse and it finds neutral fine. Other times, it finds neutral with no problem.

Do I need to drop the LU to adjust shift rod height, or can I make a cable adjustment (or another suggestion)? I also noticed the binnacle doesnt feel like it has the same "click" when coming down from fwd into neutral. Obviously, I imagine it's connected to the waterpump service, but I should mention my cables are not new...

TY for any help!
 
Joe so you think the shift rod height is the issue?

Remind me...pushing down on shift rod engages fwd, pulling up engages reverse. So I have to adjust shift rod so that it's a tad higher than it is now in neutral -- perhaps 1 or 2 revolutions counterclockwise on the shift rod to raise it a smidge.

TY!
 
My 95 225 just started doing the same thing. the only maintenance I've done on the LU is change the oil(which looked fine) I'm thinking maybe cable stretch, going to try readjusting the shift cable following the manual.
 
humm9er said:
It’s a standard rotation - so I’d want to adjust shift rod clockwise to lower it a smidge then? - thank you!!
Click to expand...

A "smidge"?...... In Neutral, adjust the shift rod, measuring from the top surface of the lower unit to the middle of the shift rod hole. The measurement is critical!

I don't have the book with me at the moment specifying that critical measurement but I'm sure another member will enter it shortly.
 
Thanks everyone.

On the one hand I do think it's most likely related to my dropping the LU. But I dont recall spinning the shift rod at all when I was servicing the waterpump. If the shift rod lined up with the hole in the shift lever and the bolt went through, shouldnt it be good? Or is the issue that the shift rod may be on the far end of the neutral range right now, just enough to cause problems, and it needs to be more "centered" in the neutral range?

Devils advocate for a minute, is there anyway that the cable stretched or needs adjusting?

Just want to be sure before I haul out and drop the LU again!!!
 
Did adjusting your cable help ?
Yesterday I tried adjusting the cable several times. No help still difficult to get to neutral without going past neutral into the other gear and back. I'm wondering if the shift assist switch is not being depressed far enough or if the contacts in it are worn out. I used a screw driver and depressed the switch manually all the way down and it did cut out cylinders, but maybe the actuator arm doesn't push it down as far as I did..Gonna unplug it and see if it acts the same. With motor off it goes to neutral just fine
 
You can adjust cable all day long.------If shift rod height is wrong you may be into a shocking amount of money to replace gears.
 
racerone said:
You can adjust cable all day long.------If shift rod height is wrong you may be into a shocking amount of money to replace gears.
Click to expand...

I am going to haul today and check shift rod height/set to spec height.

With this motor, it just has to be in neutral to set rod height, right? I read with newer Etecs there is a specific "step" in neutral you have to find. In this case, do I just "center it" in the middle of the neutral range and then adjust to spec measurement? Which I'm seeing for a 25" leg is 26-15/16"

TY

Fingers crossed!
 
Willets-----Exact same 20 year old motor ??----How do you know that shift rod height did not changed 10 years ago.-----You have to confirm it is correct today !!
 
I've had this motor for years and never had the problem. Is there a way the height would change ? I dont have a problem checking it just want to make sure thats what it is before hauling the boat and pulling the LU.
If the shift interrupt switch was not momentarily killing the starboard bank wouldn't that also make it difficult to get into neutral ?
 
Willetts..... You are High-jacking "Humm9er's" thread aren't you?

Start your own thread and explain exactly what is going on with your engine and we'll jump in there with whatever knowledge we can muster to help you.
 
No worries Willetts, but bump on my question here:

I am going to haul today and check shift rod height/set to spec height.

With this motor, it just has to be in neutral to set rod height, right? I read with newer Etecs there is a specific "step" in neutral you have to find. In this case, do I just "center it" in the middle of the neutral range and then adjust to spec measurement? Which I'm seeing for a 25" leg is 26-15/16"

TY
 
So I dropped the LU, and shaft was 1 revolution too tall -- lowered it to 26-15/16" exactly.

Then when I reattached, I still found that the boat didnt want to go back to neutral. I disconnected the cable from the lever and it would shift in and out of fwd and reverse fine.

So, knowing the shift shaft was at spec, I adjusted the cable throw so that neutral was centered. Now, shifts into/out of fwd and reverse no problem on the muffs. Hopefully no more issues.
 
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