Motor acting up

I have a 1994 Skeeter zx150, with a 1994 150 Mariner Mag III 2.5 liter. I took my boat out last week, no issue's what so ever, boat runs great. Today I went fishing at a local lake, put the boat in, cranked her up and engaged the hand trottle forward, the motor makes that transition sound of the gears engaging, but as I continue to push the throttle forward, the motor sounded like the gears were popping. So I put it neutral and put it in reverse, everything was fine. Put it back in forward same thing, popping noise, and then the motor engaged forward with no noise, so I continued, given it more throttle, and motor did fine WOT at 70MPH at 6OOO RPM. I slowed down, and put the motor in neutral, and put it back in gear, with no problem. But when I turned the motor off (fished a couple hours), I started the motor, and engaged the throttle, I got that grinding noise again. I haven't hit anything with the motor, water pressure is good, lower unit has fresh oil, I looked at the trottle linkage, they look good to me( not Loose)....Any idea's what could be doing this. Should I take it to a mechanic. Thanks for any help.. Paul http://www.bassboatcentral.com/smileys/praying.gif

sounds like a shift cable adjustment is needed. Not hard to do. Maybe someone else could chime in

im a boat mechanic and as far as i can tell by the sound of it is your shift linkage is a little out of place just needs adjusting unless your lower unit is about to grenade but lets hope for the simple adjustment

if you have it out of the water put it in nutral and spin the prop if it is clicking while spinning you can adjust the shift cables by the little circle knob on the end of them just rotate it in or out until you get your prop spinning free and there is no clicking noise comming from it

wish it were that easy in my merc

Took a closer look at the cable linkage going into the motor, found the bottom cable (black knob) for adjustment, had pop out of its holder, due to a faulty plastic clip, causing slack in the cable when engaging it forward..Made the necessary adjustment and replaced the plastic clip. Took the boat out today no problems...thanks for the help Paul http://www.bassboatcentral.com/smileys/thumbsup2.gif http://www.bassboatcentral.com/smileys/thumbsup2.gif http://www.bassboatcentral.com/smileys/thumbsup2.gif

Found the problem, did what you said about spinning the prop and no clicking noise. Everything working good now.....no grenade...LOL...thanks for your help http://www.bassboatcentral.com/smileys/thumbsup2.gif

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by flyinsooner &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">sounds like a shift cable adjustment is needed. </TD></TR></TABLE> http://www.bassboatcentral.com/smileys/thumbsup2.gif