oceanrunner help wits end

i have a 1998 175 johnson oceanrunner. heres the problem, goes into forward fine but when i go to reverse i hear grinding and it will not engage at all. but.. and heres the part that confuses me. if i run out to the inlet or anywhere really for maybe 10-15 mins it will engage in reverse perfectly fine.almost seems that the lower unit needs to warm up? whats that about? but if i rev it up to much the motor starts acting almost like i am kicking up mud ( violently shaking and bucking) i'm lost as to whats wrong.

Re: oceanrunner help wits end

Sticky clutches. You possibly got water in the lower unit either now or at some point in its life. Water means rust and your clutches are sticking until you get oil moving around and they break loose. Drain and check your oil.

Re: oceanrunner help wits end

Is your shift cable adjusted properly? Do you have a good brand of marine gear oil (SAE 80-90)?

Re: oceanrunner help wits end

Have you checked the lower unit oil lately for any water in it ??

Re: oceanrunner help wits end

71Windsor said:

Sticky clutches. You possibly got water in the lower unit either now or at some point in its life. Water means rust and your clutches are sticking until you get oil moving around and they break loose. Drain and check your oil.

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I need to understand this a bit more.......can you explain?

Re: oceanrunner help wits end

Put two pieces of bare metal together flat or cylindrical and add water and let sit. They will soon become bonded. Not permanently but enough to almost need a screwdriver driven between them to separate. The lower unit is nothing but stacked moving metal parts that fit snugly together. Once the parts start moving and oil is slung around like applying wd40 to a rusty bolt things will eventually free up.

Re: oceanrunner help wits end

meatyb, I had a similar problem in March with my '98 J150.
I dropped the LU to replace the water pump housing and impeller, upon inspection I discovered the shift rod was very hard to maneuver between gears without a significant amount of pulling or pushing. The actual rod was coated with some gunk at the shift rod housing where it enters the LU, so I went ahead and replaced the shift rod housing gasket and O-rings(2) then cleaned up the housing and rod. The rod became very easy to move between gears and after a height adjustment I reinstalled the LU and I was able to get some reverse. I then made an adjustment to the shift cable and two additional turns on the shift rod(without removing the LU again) and it is back to normal.
Hope this helps,
OutOfControl

Re: oceanrunner help wits end

It's already in slip. But I may pull it and drop lower unit. Thanks everyone for all the feedback. I did adjust cable and its a ill better. Time will tell thanks.