Not drawing water, not going into gear...

I have a 1991 ebbtide 4.3l Yamaha inboard outboard boat with two problems that are keeping me from enjoying the water..

Problem 1,

The boat is not circulating water correctly.. When i have the ear muffs on, no water comes out of the pee holes. The pump is located on the right side of the motor and is driven by the belt... i know the pump is working because i took the water intake hose off and put a water hose down the intake hose and then it came out of the pee holes fine. I just don't think its getting to the pump correctly, there is no blockage from the stern drive to the pump. I am totally confused...

Problem 2,

The boat will not go into gear without the engine dieing, it has something to do with that kill switch that kills the engine for a microsecond to allow the gears to mesh smoothly. I can unhook that kill switch and the boat will go into gear, its just really rough. I noticed that when the boat is in gear the kill switch is closed.

Re: Not drawing water, not going into gear...

I do not know yamahs that well but the outdrive has an impellar that draws in the raw water.. if its a fesh water cooled engine then that water goes througha heat exchanger..you can access by dropping the lower unit..unless you have a straight inboard with the through hull shaft design to a prop..

as far as the kill switch goes..its designed to prevent you from starting in gear..

so...i would check the pump (impellar) in the outdrive first...if you have one..

Then as far as the kill.. it usually sits between the throttle and shift cables..hopefully this is how your boat it set up...and so the culprit could be a bad cable or you are in need of cable adjustment. This will also cause your gearing to be rough..

hope that help a little..but again i am no yamaha expert..

do you have any pictures of the beast?