mine did the same thing this year,after lots of wasted money(me changing parts)and the third boat shop they found that pin that holds the gear on dist. shaft had sheered,but would hang the gear enough too let it run sometimes. it was a cheap easy fix just hard to find.

wow i can imagine that was hard to find. Did the timing become "way" off? I noticed mine is advancing to almost 40 deg BTDC while in base timing mode when I advance the throttle to about 2-3K rpm. Also the shift cable went breasts up on me last weekend... So Im at the point of ramming this thing into the shore!!...or should I say being towed into shore!!