Hey guys,
So after a few times out my Port side motor will now no longer go into forward and/or reverse. the cable was bad when i bought the boat it would only go forward but never reverse. i would also have to play with the shift selector to get it back into neutral for that motor to start like the switch wasn't engaged but then after today i was driving out to the middle of the lake for a swim and when i went to start her back up she wouldn't go into gear no grinding no hesitation no nothing.. Thoughts ideas help, i just got her all ready for this upcoming weekend and now 3 steps behind thanks again (88 baja force twin 350s merc alpha one outdrives)

Sounds like the shift cable needs replacement. You can disconnect the upper cable near the exh manifold and see if it is the cable that runs from the shifter or the lower cable that connects to the drive that's causing the binding.

There's a good chance the shift cable bellows split and allowed water into the lower cable. If that's the case, the drive will need to be removed and that may be a problem since the shifter needs to be in fwd to remove an Alpha drive...

There's also a special socket needed to remove the lower cable housing if you do need to replace lower cable..

My old boat had a Alpha1 drive and it used a spring loaded switch to interrupt the ignition momentarily when shifting into gear. If the lower shift cable gets sticky, the switch will kill the eng when you try in shift into gear. That may be what makes you have to fiddle with the shifter to get eng to start.

I believe (not 100% sure) the interrupt switch only effects ign so the starter may still work.

The neutral safety switch prevents the starter from working.

Just got done doing the same thing on a buddy's boat, pretty easy to do, you dont need a special socket to get the job done, I purchased this one from autozone. It's a 9/16 spark plug socket, I used that and put a 5/8 socket on the other end and backed the old cable right out, then installed the new one with no issues, best part the socket was only 5.99 compared to 39.99 for the merc tool. Here's the link, Duralast/12 point 3/8 in. drive 9/16 in. chrome vanadium steel spark plug socket (75-502) | Spark Plug Socket | AutoZone.com

I picked up a shift cable with install kit from ebay for 45 bucks came with everything needed to get the job done using all new hardware.

He's absolutely right. Once the cable is in there is a specific method to adjust it, it's in Mercruiser manual #6. You can probly get it off iboats Mercruiser page.