1998 Mercury 25 tiller revving while shifting into neutral when approaching boat ramp

[MotorlessCSJ16]

I've had this problem twice now. The motor runs great all day and shifts good all day. But when I shift into neutral approaching the boat ramp (coincidence?) it revs (don't think it was still in gear but sounds like it is flirting between neutral and forward...was too busy panicking and trying to avoid severe damage to my hull as I approached the dock). It then revs for a bit longer, makes a crackle sound, and goes into a normal idle (definitely in neutral now).

When flushing I shifted into reverse, forward, and neutral fine and smoothly. Checked the gear lube and looked great. Magnet on drain screw had the normal shavings.

Another guy on another forum said his friend had a similar problem and his pin that held the shift linkage popped. They replaced it, it had the same problem, and the pin popped again.

Does anyone have any incite on this? PLEASE HELP!

 

[MotorlessCSJ16]

Re: 1998 Mercury 25 tiller revving while shifting into neutral when approaching boat

Found a possible issue, although I don't know much about this. If you look in the picture at the linkage I pointed out in blue, it is quite loose. I can easily wiggle it around. I'm not sure if this is a possible issue and needs to be tight or not but, it's just something I noticed. Should I tighten it down? Or is it fine a little loose?

Could this even possibly be the cause?