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?

Thanks for the great info. How do I shift then engine manually? Can I
do this with the hose hooked up to my boat or must I put it in the
water?

The shift cable pushes and pulls a lever on the engine. When you take the
cable of the engine you can manually shift it by pushing or pulling that
lever.

You can check it with a hose hooked up to the engine.

Justin
"Travis" wrote in message
ups.com...
Thanks for the great info. How do I shift then engine manually? Can I
do this with the hose hooked up to my boat or must I put it in the
water?

Well we did some troubleshooting and when we shifted it manually it
still didn't go into gear. I can tell it is trying to, a spit of water
here and there and half a spin from the prop every so often. The gear
oil is creamy. Any ideas on what the cause is and how expensive it is
to fix?

Ok with the johnsons you have the linkage goes under the motor to
the lower unit.

Now follow the linkage from the throddle to the back of the motor with
the cover off. You SHOULD see the levers (on the left side) moving
back and forth. One should be for the engine to rev and the
other lever would to engage the drive.

As for the oil being creamy in the lower unit, that can be a problem.
If it looks like coffee moca, there can be water in the oil. Thats a
problem. (bad seal) I would at the very least change the lower unit
fluid and
adjust the linkage. Its not exactly uncommon for older boats
to have linkage that was stretched out beyond its useful life.

If you want to play with the linkage while the motor is running
(out of the water) I would first and foremost, remove the prop.
(dont need to be standing too close and get caught up by it)
Put the muffs on and fire up the water. You should be able to
disconnect the linkage from the motor and shift it forwards and
reverse. If that doesnt work, you might have a issue with the lower
unit. The other think that can be a problem, is that the last guy
who did the lower unit may have tightened or loosened the
linkage line from the lower unit. Do that a bit much and it
can have issues like you mentioned too.

If there is no real history on the motor, since you are the new
owner I would also look into changing the fuel filter, thermostats,
and water pump impeller. Those are maintence its which may
have been neglected by the previous owner.

Tom

"Travis" wrote in message
ups.com...
Thanks for the great info. How do I shift then engine manually? Can I
do this with the hose hooked up to my boat or must I put it in the
water?

I had an older Johnson and I found that the shift mechanism for the engine
ran thru a lever/rocker arm and the pivot point/bolt had eggshelled out the
lever arm. This resulted in too much play and the gear in the foot wasn't
being engaged because there was too little throw on the shift rod to the
foot. This lever arm is under the carb in the front of the engine. One
side of this lever connects to a rod going to the foot and the other side
connects an arm to the shift lever the shift cable attaches to.

I removed the arm and welded a washer to each side of the shift arm/lever.
Problem fixed!