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Trouble shifting back to neutral 2004 f225

J

jschwartz2026

New member
2004 Yamaha f225 working perfectly but was overheating. Dropped lower unit and ended up messing with the shift shaft a little before the lower unit installed. Installed in neutral and seemed fine but a half hour into driving the boat it started to have a hard time going into neutral and felt bound up. Would have to work it to get it in and out of neutral. Dropped lower unit and installed this time in forward and it did the identical thing. Worked for a bit and seemed fine out of water but then started to bind up. No idea if something is off or issue with lower unit or what to try to diagnose it. No idea if it’s coincidence or if I messed something up while doing the lower unit. Disconnected the shift cables at the motor and seems to shift smooth while disconnected. Possibly a hint of drag but nothing odd. Trying to figure out if it’s time to bring it in or try something else first. Thanks for your time to comment.
 
I would try installing again in neutral, make sure the shaft is an even amount between F and R and not favoring one or the other, you should be able to feel this turning the shift shaft with a wrench or torx-bit. Same goes for the mechanism on the motor, disconnect the cable and get a feel for where it is laying in the neutral slot without the cable on the post, some will require a cable adjustment if its pulling too hard to F or R. I've had this happen before and the shift shaft was slightly turned more to one side than the other on the lower unit itself, so i was likely tooth off than where I should have been, shifted fine into forward but would not return to neutral.
 
I will give this a shot. Do I need to drop the unit again or do you feel I could do this strictly with the shift cable adjustment? I wasn’t sure if I should mess with the shift cable adjustment.
 
If it was me and it was working fine prior to it coming off, assuming it came off in neutral, I would remove the lower and find that middle ground between F and R, it's not a big space but it is space nonetheless. Unless you really two-handed the lever into and out of gear the cable should be fine as long as it's also in neutral.
Though I have no history besides you were overheating, could be something more sinister with the lower but just going off the info on first post
 
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