I posted here last year about not having reverse when the drive is hot and then working after it cools down. This happens consistently. I built a drive shower for it that puts a ton of water on the drive but doesnt help the problem. I bought the boat in the late fall and it was winterized and shrink wraped when I got it. It appears to have the bluish green merc lube in it. It is the 1992 454 Chev King Cobra, cone clutch drive. My local omc dealer adjusted everything to the foctory settings by the book, everything is as it should be, cables and all.The boat only shows a little over 50 hrs on the hr meter but who can really know for sure? I am going to try Mobil 1 75 90 synthetic lube to see if that could be my problem. I dont want to start replacing a bunch of parts and still end up with the same problem. Do you or anyone have any ideas or suggestions? Thanks for any replies or suggestions.

Is the interrupter working properly?? Has the cable from the shift bracket to the drive been replaced? Does it feel like there's tension on the controller when you try to go into reverse? From my experience, getting it to go into reverse takes a little more throw from the shift bracket than putting into forward. The cable might just need a bit more adjustment at the shift bracket to help it into reverse.

Yes the interrupter is working properly. The boat shifts nice, smoothe and easy. When warm and shifted to reverse the lever feels good, only it will not engage [feels like it never shifted out of neutral] until it sits about 5 minutes in the water and cools down then reverse will engage every time as long as the drive is cool.

needs new cone clutch and cups !!!!!

I talked on line last summerto a guy that had the same problem. He replaced the cups, clutch and more. He still had the same problem. He said he just lived with the problem until he got rid of the boat. At the time I didnt know about possibly having to use synthetic lube so I dont know if he used synthetic lube after the work was done.

I know what you're saying..almost a delayed reaction going into gear..been there..try adjusting the shift cable when it's warm to engage reverse..all i got for now.

Its not really delayed, it just plain isnt there, but the shfter feels the same cold or hot.

Do you have an MSD ignition by chance? If you do they sell a separate module for the shifter interrupt. Even if you have the stock unit I would guess that your shifter interrupt is defective, even if you think it works fine it could be an intermittent problem that only shows up when the unit is warm. I had a close friend replace all the parts you did, and after about 2k of cables, controls etc. it still worked intermittently.

It has what the seloc book says is a spitfire electronic engine management [emm] system. It also says that on the engine. thanks to all you guys for the replies

trust me built many,

been there done that.......

omc certs ect

check adj if all is good r&r cone and cups