Trouble going into Forward gear

[Beakster]

Hi all, new to boats so I'm not very familiar with outboards yet. I have a Johnson J100TRLCSC.

Today when I was out I switched the engine into forward and it reved up but didnt go anywhere, then with a bang it went into gear and off I went. Later that day I was more careful switching from neutral into forward but I still had issues. I'd slowly push the lever forward and I'd hear the revs increase and like a ticking noise going in time with the revs. The gear clearly wasn't engaged correctly. It seemed the best way to get it into gear was just to keep on increasing throttle and it would slam into gear and go forwards.

Is there something I can adjust here? If this was a manual gear box on a car it would be like I hadn't push the stick all the way into gear. Or is this a symptom of it being an old motor and something worn internally?

Thanks

 

[racerone]

Drain gear oil for inspection.-----Check shift rod height.------And outboards are to be shifted with a quick firm motion.----No ---" granny shifting "---On them.

 

[Beakster]

I took the shift cable off on the engine side and it seems that when the shifter is in neutral the cable is too far back. So I adjusted it with the adjusters on the engine side of the cable and out it back in. On land test seems good. Now it finds forward neutral and reverse no problem. Will test in the water at the weekend.