79 Merc 20hp...No neutral.

Engine in question: http://www.marineengine.com/boat-for...l-number-on-it

Im working on this for someone and do not know the history of the motor other than it had been in the hands of a tech school to sort out the wiring.

I replaced the water pump impeller and rebuilt the carb and got it running, but it is stuck in gear.

If I work the shift lever while rocking the flywheel it will go from being in forward and go directly into reverse with the shift lever nearly all the way to the reverse position without ever coming into any sort of neutral.


Im not sure if the owner ever "Set up" the controls correctly as they work from the helm, but seem to have some issues.

I did note there is a king spline on the shift rod going into the lower unit and I assume I got this aligned correctly otherwise it should not have gone together, Correct?

I followed the procedure in the (Celoc?) Manual as best as I could with the lower unit shifted into reverse and rocked the lever in reverse to align the splines.


Could the splines still be off?

If it is a misaligned splines how would that account for it not having any neutral?

Any help greatly appreciated.

I had this problem once because the shift rod pulled out of the lower end.. I had to disassemble the entire gear case to reset the shift dog. You will need a puller to remove the bearing housing , and I had a heck of a time removing the bolt on the pinion gear. Search YouTube for a video on this, you should be able to find something.

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Thanks gypsy, you are the second person who mentioned the shift shaft being pulled out causing an issue with this.


I would have listened to the first guy, but he was rather vague.