Mercruiser shifter problem - shifter box

[malfar]

Single lever shifter with gearshift disengage button in center of lower part of lever, power tilt and pwr trim on 3.0 merc. Works fine with shifter disengaged, but when you bring back to neutral, it then won't shift into gear. If I jiggle it around, sideways rather than front/back seems to be better and I can get it into gear. Sprayed some silicon around it and it seems to work a bit better. It's a 2000 model, but has been little used. Any advice - I think it's probably a lubrication issue - but there is only the shifter and the a bezel on the side panel of the boat and the actual shifter box is behind. How to take it apart isn't obvious and I don't have pix in my repair manual - I suspect the shifter arm comes off first and the the cover plate on the bezel - wherein there are probably mounting screws behind the cover. Anyone have a similar problem

[redtech]

remove the button by shifting forward with button depressed and take a small screw driver to remove then spray some lube back there works sometimes if not remove control box and you'll see what needs to be lube
first step will be remove handle which is 9/16 nut behind button

[malfar]

If I understand correctly - with the throttle forward you just use a little screwdriver to pop the button out of the center.

Thanks

[redtech]

yes forward in nuetral

[malfar]

Got that working, now if the shop gets around to it this week maybe we can find out why there was 2 qts of water in the oil pan.