2006 200HP Yamaha Vmax Will NOT Shift Into FWD

Sorry for any duplication but posted this earlier in the Evenrude Forum by mistake.

I went to the lake today and after getting the boat off the trailer and starting the motor was unable to shift into FWD or Reverse. I had the boat out about 2 weeks ago with no issues. After a few minutes it allowed me to shift into reverse smoothly with no trouble but still unable to get it to move into FWD. I brought the boat home and have read tons of post trying to find a solution or what else to check? I have seen some comments about manually shifting the motor into gear to check for a linkage malfunction but although I can see the lever down in the motor am unsure what I need to disconnect? I also checked my lower gear fluid and did notice that it was milkier than normal ( last changed 2 months ago).

Any ideas or suggestion would be greatly appreciated!

Milkier than normal sounds bad. the oil should not be milkie at all.

Can you shift the motor when the boat is out of the water?

I just rigged mine and the cables are not to fun to hook up it is a tight. Try and take the cotter pin off at the end of the cable on the side of the motor. Try the shifter and see if it is not binding. You can than try and slide where the pin is on the motor and if it won't slide I would have to say your lower unit might have problems.

I hope I explained it good for you

I had a problem with my boat and it turned out to be a washer (no clue where it came from) that was left in motor. It slid down to the bottom where the throttle cable comes into the motor. It was jammed in there. Just a thought...

I disconnected the cotter pin and same deal. I am only able to manually slid it into reverse but NOT fwd. I just recently changed the lower unit oil about 2 months ago and must have left a drain screw loose or something. Does it make a difference that the motor is not running? For example, should I hook the ear flaps up for a few minutes to crank it and then try to manually put into forward? Guess i'm just grasping for straws.

THanks for your help.

I had the same problem. A bolt was jamed in the hole where the shift rod goes into the motor. under the intake. just follow the hard shift rod and you should find it.. takes a good flash light also.


Modified by p10141 at 4:56 PM 5/12/2011

"I had the same problem. A bolt was jamed in the whole where the shift rod goes into the motor. under the intake. just follow the hard shift rod and you should find it.. takes a good flash light also."

Do you mean the manual shift level?

i guess, Im not sure what you call it...i found it reading an old post.... i will see if i can locate it for you..I think it had a pic.

I had the same problem on mine.Was pulling back up to ramp and couldn't shift into reverse.

After getting it back on trailer,pulled cover on motor and found a bolt jammed into the shift rod on front of the motor.One of the bolts that hold the bottom shroud on had come out.After checking further i found that all four of them were loose.

They were a real pain to get to, to tighten...looks like somebody on the assembly line was sleeping http://www.bassboatcentral.com/smileys/mad.gif

Thanks for all the suggestions! I'm going to check everything you guys have said to look for this weekend and will let you know.

Final Update,

Found screw lodged in manual shift lever in the motor. Could not see it from the side i've been looking from all week! Removed and back in business. Appreciate everyones input and suggestions! Still concerned with milky lower gear oil but believe it was due to a loose drain screw. draining and refilling now and will check again after placing the boat back into the water.

Be sure you use new gaskets on the screws. http://xs-s.com/zf/images/smile/emthup.gif