VMax 150 sticking in gear

[Skeeter Jay]

Yesterday I made a pretty long run through some extremely rough water (2'-3' swells), when I got to where I was going I slowed down (have hot foot) to an idle and went to take it out of gear. At this point I noticed my shifter had a lot of tension on it and it didnt want to come out of gear. I pulled back hard on it after noticing this and it finally popped out. After this I put in forward and reverse and things seemed to be working fine. I played it off as just a one time thing, no big deal. Well a little bit later I made a run back to the boat ramp (forgetting about what happened earlier) and I was idling up to the dock when I suddenly realized it was stuck in forward again! This time I jerked it back hard and again it came out of gear but it seemed like it was idling really high, like 1500 R's. I plan on calling my dealer tomorrow (closed on Mondays) but I am just curious, is this something in the shifter or in the LU? Just wondering if running in that extremely rough water did this or if it was something that was going to happen anyway?

[mikedb1972]

i had a similar issue with mine, what i found it to be was the plastic insert in the control box.

just some insight, hope this helped.

[Skeeter Jay]

thanks, makes me feel a little better about it.

[BuzzB8]

Have you removed the cowling and looked at the end on the engine. Maybe it has popped out of the clamp and was catching on the throttle cable. That would explain both the hard to move issue and the high RPM issue.

[Bass Hawk 87]

Mine did this a few years ago but luckily I was about to load up and head home from a trip to Russell. Turns out my shifter cable had broken where it connected on the side of the motor (Shift linkage) and I replaced the cable for about $30. No problems since then

[Skeeter Jay]

I'll pull the cowling this afternoon and check it out.

[Skeeter Jay]

well I finally got time to pull my cowling and check it out, didnt see anything out of place. Of course right now while its setting in the garage it seems to shift smoothly.. so who knows. A buddy of mine suggested I check out my LU oil, he thought that maybe since both times it gave me trouble was after a run that I might have some water in the LU and it could be causing it to get hot and not shift easily? does this sound plausible? I hope to have time this evening to check the oil, if no water in it then I plan on taking it back out this weekend to see if I can duplicate the problem, if I can I guess it will go in the shop Sure was hoping I could find a easy fix.

[Skeeter Jay]

OK, I've figured out whats going on.. well sort of.. Its not my shifter or linkage, its my throttle. The reason its not wanting to come out of gear is because the engine is reving up over 1K rpms. When I come to a stop I can "bleep" the throttle and this will cause my idle to drop down to 700 rpms like its supposed to be and I can take it out of gear with no problem. What I dont know is if my throttle cable is sticking or if this is something in the carbs theirselves. I tried pulling my hotfoot up with my toe but that doesnt do anything. I'm up for any more suggestions on what I need to do to figure this out.