I have a 1984 30hp evinrude o/b and have just replaced the water pump. Next to the drain plug on the lower unit there is another screw, phillips head though. For some reason I felt it neccesary to unscrew this, lo and behold, i read in my shop manual the following day that this shouldnt be done. I screwed the screw back in and this is what happened; (bear with me here, a bit hard to explain) with that screw back in place, and everything working properly and put back together, while in the reverse position, the prop would spin in reverse, when in the nuetral position, it remained in reverse, then when in the forward position, the prop acted as it it were in nuetral.......therefore, i had no 'forward', though i was able to shift to an extent (reverse and nuetral only). Figuring that this pinion screw had everything to do with it, i removed it once again and noticed a plate with a hole in it inside the gearcase that i could manipulate using a piece of wire through the drain plug hole. I lined up a hole on the plate with the pinion screw whole and screwed it into place, then i was unable to shift at all....completely baffled. I tried doing this with the lower half of the shift rod in all 3 positions, drive, reverse and nuetral. I cant figure it out and cant afford to take it to a mechanic at the time. Also my clymer manual does not touch on this at all. If you can understand this post and have any ideas PLEASE help me....as I have just rebuilt the carb., replaced the water pump and plugs and ran all new fuel lines in time for Tarpon season, i dont want this to hold me back.
Sorry it's under bad circumstances.