Bill,

Thanks for your reply. I do have the Ficht software and it did indeed
set a
"soft" code for the interrupt switch. (I think it was code 28)

I have not done any work that affected the shift rod in a while; H20
pump was
over 1 year ago and had a full season with no problems shifting.

WIth the boat out of the water, I hooked a meter to the interrupt
switch
and cycled through the gears. I never saw the shift interrupt switch
get depressed. Are you saying that it will only activate when the
engine is under load at the prop? What is the mechanism for this
to engage when the boat only is in gear under load? I examined the
mechanism
that holds the switch and it seems fine.

Of course the real difficulty in diagnosing it is that most of the time
it works
fine.

The problem seemed to be more pronounced after running in gear for
some
time, then as I am getting close to the dock I have difficulty putting
it in
neutral. I can force it into reverse but it won't find neutral.

After a bit of a harrowing docking procedure, I turn the boat off and
re-start. I am tied to the dock and I cycle it between F-N-R.
Everything
works just as God and Ole would want it to. Try as I might I
can't get it to repeat under controlled circumstances.

I have the boat out of the water now. Shifting by hand while turning
the prop seems to be OK; I sense no binding in the shift rod,
but I will investigate it further.

Thanks for your advice; if you have any more please send it along.


-Almus