1986 Johnson 110HP - suddenly will not go in gear

[vintage_car]

We were on the water today and having no issues. I was doing some fishing and since we do not have a trolling motor I would pull about 20ft from shore, fish and drift. As I would get closer to shore I would start the boat and move away 20' and repeat. I did this about 10 times and then I fired up the boat and it wouldn't go in drive. It would just rev really loud and fast. I shut it off and looked at the motor, nothing was wrapped up in it, prop spun free. I lowered it back down and it started and went into gear, but was moving much faster than it should have at the location the throttle was at. I backed it off and it didn't slow, it remained at that speed. I killed the engine and pushed the throttle lever all the forward and then tried reverse. It wouldn't go in reverse, it was very, very difficult. so I pulled the cover and looked at the linkage as it moved. It moved forward as I pushed the throttle forward, but it wouldn't touch reverse. I spun the nut on the linkage at the motor maybe 3 full turns and then reverse worked fine on the throttle. So I fired it up, and nothing... no forward, no reverse. Then I noticed the engine wasn't pee-ing. The water pump was replaced last month along with all new lower unit oil and seals by a boat mechanic. I do not know how long the engine was running that way. I had to be towed in.

So....where do I start on this problem. what other info can I give you guys to help narrow down the problem?

 

[vintage_car]

Re: 1986 Johnson 110HP - suddenly will not go in gear

I drained a bit of the lower unit gear oil. It isn't milky and there are not metal shavings in it? I would have assumed there would have been some metal in it? So it still isn't peeing water, the water pump has to be bad- how difficult is it to change that, and does anyone have suggestions on getting it to go into gear? Its an outboard motor, if I didn;t mention that already- 110TLCDC