OK FELLOW SPORTFISHERMEN I AM HAVEING A ISSUE WITH THE SHIFTING LINKAGE SHIFTING INTO AND OUT OF NEUTRAL.
THE ENGINE IS A 225 FOUR STROKE 2004.
ANY BODY GOT ANY IDEAS AS TO WHAT IT COULD BE?
I HAVE TAKEN THE BUSHING APART, AND FOUND IT TO BE IN GOOD SHAPE WITH NO NOTICEABLE WEAR. IT APPEARS TO BE BINDING UNDER THE FORWARD END OF THE ENGINE UNDER THE EXAUST WHERE THE CABLE PULLS THE LEVER FOWARD TO SHIFT INTO GEAR....
IT DOES WORK BUT IS WAY TO HARD TO SHIFT
IF ANYBODY KNOW A GOOD MECHANIC IN THE MOREHEAD AREA FOR WORKING ON THIS TYPE OF THING LET ME KNOW..
A buddy of mine had the exact same problem with the same motor. I even think it was the same year model. Any way he had a yamaha service man in the throttle cable line. If I remember correctly it was the whole throttle cable itsself. I would definetly have somebody come out and look at it. The biggest problem my buddy had was throttling down occasionly. He would be riding at 27 knots and try to pull the throttle back and nothing would happen. Keeps right on at 27 knots, he would have to cut the switch just to get the boat to slow down.
You have two cables for each engine. One shift cable and one throttle cable. It it's not in the shift cable, then it's either in the control box, or the shift linkage on the engine.
I can't help you trouble shooting the problem, but the Boats Unlimited by me does my service work and seem like good knowledgeable folks. You may want to give them a call.
We had the same problem described above on our 90. We would be running along at 35 hundred rpm's and when we pulled the throttle back, nothing happened. I tried for a while to find the problem myself. Couldn't for the life of me figure out the problem spot. Ended up taking it to a yamaha shop in Holly Ridge (Greg's) and they found a VERY SMALL part that was causing all of the problems.
I would contact Yamaha if I were you. It sounds as if this is not just a one time problem, they might cover it under warranty; they covered ours.
I can not remember the exact details but the F225's had a factory recall involving the throttle bushing. If you PM me the engine serial # I can check to see if your engine is in need of the recall service.
Doug