Hi all.. Ive owned this Colombia with a 73 Evinrude 50hp for 3 years now. Its only seen the water (successfully) twice now, for various reasons. Ive finally got it running, but had an overheating issue. Ive already replaced the water pump last year, and was told to check/replace the thermostat. I replaced it (it looked fine, but did not test). While running on muffs, the overheat alarm went off. After reading up, I noticed no water coming from the "tell tale" , and noticed on the forums there is a debate as to weather that even matters. I decided to pull the lower unit, to make sure I put the pump vanes in the correct way. I ordered a LU seal kit, and installed it while I was at it, because the oil looked milky when I first got the boat. I reinstalled the LU, with some difficulty, and now I cannot get it into forward gear, and not cranking. It goes into reverse smoothly. My questions: 1 Is there a Forward/Neutral and reverse position on this? and, What did I do? I measured the length of the shift rod before disassembly, and replaced it the same length. I should also add that Im a former mechanic (auto), but have never worked on boats prior to buying this one.
