2000 Johnson 225 HO problem shifting to neutral

I recently purchased an older Lake and Bay with a 2000 Johnson 225 HO. The motor looks brand new, it was installed on the boat 2 years ago and was stored in a crate since new in 2000. The first time I took the boat out I immediately noticed it horribly lacks power and after removing cowling i found that the remote was only only opening carbs halfway with remote at WOT. I loosened the throttle cable clamp and turned the thumbwheel way out.. this made a huge difference, the boat was only doing 43mph (GPS), and now does 65 mph. And i still have more room to adjust. My issuse now is that when coming down if i shift to neutral the motor drops to idle but stays in forward gear. It will pop into neutral after about 7-8 seconds of idling or if i pull back past the detent slightly into reverse. The motor shifted fine before i messed with throttle cable and i never touched the shift cable.. Would me adjusting the throttle change somthing with the shifting? It seems to be centered, it goes the same distance to engaged FWD and REV, and when in rev it does the same thing, will hang in gear for a few seconds or shift to neutral when remote is slightly moved into forward. Please help this issue is making trailering and docking terribly difficult. Thank you.

Re: 2000 Johnson 225 HO problem shifting to neutral

I am having the exact same problem wonder if you found the problem i have try to adjust mine but it dosent make any difference..

Re: 2000 Johnson 225 HO problem shifting to neutral

Cable adjustments.
Remove both cables, throttle and shift.
Engine off, operate linkage manually to WOT. Check if the butterflies are open fully and that they are parallel to throttle bore and not opened too far. They can, and just might, go past the optimum point.
Return the throttle linkage to neutral stop position, and check that all throttle butterflies are absolutely closed.
If not for either of the above checks, stop and do a link and sync. You will have to get a manual.

If correct, return the throttle linkage to neutral, ensure the gearcase is in neutral, and attach the shift cable. Do this by loosening the trunnion clamp screw, and adjust the trunnion wheel til the shift cable slips over the post with no tension either forward or back on the shift lever. Replace the nut to hold the cable on.
Do the same for the throttle cable. Adjust trunnion wheel til it slips right over the post with no tension either forward or back.
That is a good starting place for both cable adjustments. You may have to tighten or loosen one or the other just a slight bit for exact correct feel and operation.
For example, if you are pulling back on the control lever toward neutral, and the fast idle lever tries to rise up, then the throttle cable is too tight.

If this cannot be achieved, then you probably need to do a complete link and sync, because the throttle idle stop and WOT stop are probably wrong.

Re: 2000 Johnson 225 HO problem shifting to neutral

This motor has a shift interrupter switch.. do as daselbee posted about adjusting but put a slight preload towards reverse as I found this works best..

Re: 2000 Johnson 225 HO problem shifting to neutral

link and sync check out good and i adjust the cables like you mention but it seens to have too much foward in my case i can hear the clutch dog tryn to engage in forward i am think of droping the LU and check shift rod hight do you know how much it should have using a tape measure thanks

Re: 2000 Johnson 225 HO problem shifting to neutral

Look at the top of the first page...you will see a subject called "Sticky...top secret file." by good old Tashasdaddy....in there you will find the shift rod height specs.