I would be looking at the control cable and the control box. Pull the
cowling off the engine and determine which cable is throttle and which is
the shift. The disconnect the shift cable at the engine. Try to shift it
manually at the engine with it running. Obviously you need to hook up water
to the engine or back it into the water. Also keep any body parts out of the
prop. Start it up and with the engine idling try to put it in either gear.
If that works then try the other direction. If that works then the problem
is the cable or the control box . With the cable still disconnected try to
pull on it. If it pulls out all the way then the cable is broken and you
need a new one. If it doesn't pull out then I would move the remote control
(lever by the helm) into forward and then reverse while watching the cable
end by the engine. The cable should only move as you move the control lever
into gear. If it doesn't move or moves after you are into the throttle area
of the control lever then I would suspect the control. Put a new control
and new cables and you should be set.

If shifting the engine manually does not work then the problem is in the
lower unit.

Good luck,

Justin
"Travis" wrote in message
oups.com...
I recently bought a used boat. When I took it out on the lake, I had
trouble getting it to go into gear. I had to try numerous times. The
engine would rev up, but it would not go into forward or reverse. About
one out of every 30 tries of pushing the throttle all the way forward
would make it jerk into gear. Once I finally got into into gear, it
would go fast with no problem, but when I put it back into neutral, I
had the same problem again. What could the issue be and how expensive
is it to have fixed?