175 pro xs leaking water at mid gasket

175 pro xs set sb110355p mod 1175p73ey. Started get hot on me last time out. Water pressure was low at idle but good at upper rpm when I noticed it. Brought it home and pulled lower and did complete service on lower. Pulled cowling and cleaned the strainer and pulled thermostats and flushed it good before reassembling it all. Along with poppet valve and new thermostats. Originals wouldn’t open till 160. Put it all back together except lower cowling to run on muffs and check for leaks. When it lit her up I noticed water puddling on the lower rubber cowling seal. Thought it was just residual from flushing on the hose from earlier. While it was idling on the muffs I took my leaf blower and blew her off real good. That’s when I find the leak. Once it warmed up the water is leaking enough that it has a dribble down both sides of the mid. It’s both sides of the engine between the block and the mid around where the exhaust plate and the head area. I haven’t pulled a power head before but I’m confident that I can handle it. From looking at it closely, l don’t understand how to remove the shift shaft linkage. How do I lift the power head without pulling the whole shift shaft out of the mid? My thoughts were to remove batt connections ten nuts and cooling hoses along with the lower unit. Attach lifting eye and pick her up. Clean surfaces and replace the gasket and then reassemble. I DO NOT HAVE A SERVICE MANUAL at this time so I was hoping to get some advice on the linkage that will help me get a head start on this project. I will be calling European in the am to get a manual coming my way. Is there anything I should be looking for that would cause this to happen or is it a common thing with these things? Any help would be very much appreciated.

Disconnect the shift lever arm from the slide mechanism and it will stay in place in the adaptor plate, usually no need to disconnect any rigging, just lift it high enough work on and move it sideways.
Get a service Manuel before starting this project.

^^^^^ agree

Thanks! I have read here about people getting one from don. Is there a place other than don to get one sooner? He is on the opposite side of the country from me……so that might take awhile Was hoping to get started this morning

Last time I got an order from, was here in Sacramento in three days

Any Mercury dealer or service center can get them, but unless they have it in stock then they would have to order from Mercury and maybe they ship it directly to you from Mercury but probably no faster than Don. Not sure how many dealers actually keep them in stock, there are a lot of different manuals.

no drop shipping from MERCURY MARINE sorry OEM comes from dealer , one of the ways they protect us , lots of back door parts and rigs sold in the past from some OEMs

So what I need is the Shop Manual correct ……..

Right, Mercury calls them service manuals, have your serial number handy when ordering. Do not buy aftermarket service manuls, get the Mercury OEM manual. It’s the best money you can spend if doing your own maintenance and repairs.