Mercruiser stuck in neutral lost forward and reverse. Prop free spinning

[HeritageHD]

Link to my YouTube video:
https://youtu.be/YsK-nKJDXbw

The issue started when I lost neutral and reverse. Was going to pull up to the sandbar and when I put the boat in neutral it remained in forward gear at low RPM. I shifted it to reverse to avoid hitting another boat and it continued to move forward. More throttle in reverse = higher RPM and faster forward thrust. *just before pulling up to the sand bar I pushed the trailer button to bring the trim up. My trim was intermittent so I tried that. Not sure if it has anything to do with it.
I got the boat home and shut it off until I could work on it. It sat about a week. After the week it started right up - I thought this would be an issue because neutral was forward when I left it. The boat is now always in neutral. Forward on the throttle increases RPM but boat is in neutral. Same in reverse position on the throttle. When in forward throttle position the prop spins freely both clockwise and counterclockwise. When in reverse throttle position the prop spins freely in broth directiona as well. No clicking.
I thought I may need to adjust the throttle cables. Watched a few videos and when I went to measure the play in the lower throttle cable it moved a few inches. Is this my issue or is it something bigger?

 

[achris]

Having the lower shift cable removed form the shift plate takes the control lever out of the equation. You have also removed the slide from the cable, why? But, if you can move the cable that freely through the range, it's possible a shear drive shaft, or the splines in the bottom of the upper shift shaft have rusted out and let go. You should remove the lower housing and check.

Also, have a look in the stickies, at the top of this forum, and see the articles on how the shift system works....

Chris........

 

[Scott Danforth]

Also check the gears and coupler

 

[kenny nunez]

The way the post started it had the symptom of a lower shift cable jacket that separated either under the engine or at the bellhousing attaching point. No matter what the drive has to be removed it figure it out.

 

[HeritageHD]

Thanks for the input, everyone. At this point I need to find a tow over to the launch to pull it out. This will probably turn into a winter project because as you can probably tell, this is all new to me. Appreciate the help.

Having the lower shift cable removed form the shift plate takes the control lever out of the equation. You have also removed the slide from the cable, why? But, if you can move the cable that freely through the range, it's possible a shear drive shaft, or the splines in the bottom of the upper shift shaft have rusted out and let go. You should remove the lower housing and check.

Also, have a look in the stickies, at the top of this forum, and see the articles on how the shift system works....

Chris........

The slide was off in the video just because I had taken it off to inspect the core. I'd never looked at it before so wanted to better understand what was going on. I will have to do some reading up on the last part of your comment, that's all foreign to me. I will check out the stickies as you suggested. Thanks!