King Cobra shifting issue

92 cone clutch King Cobra that shifts great. But, if he has to throttle the boat and gets close to the shift point it will pop into neutral.

And heres the weird part, it will not shift back into forward right away. The shift lever moves and everything is moving on the shift "block" on the engine. If he shifts it into reverse 3-4 times then it will go.

This weekend we ran for about 15 miles on plane. We stopped for a second and wouldn't go into forward. Reverse 5 or 6 times then pops into gear.

I am wondering if something could be getting warm/hot while on plane and expanding enough to not move properly inside the drive. Then once the drive is submerged it cools down and works again?

We tore the side panel off the drive to look at the linkage and everything looks perfect. The lever that hooks to the "shoe" is moving all the way down. The cable on the block is also collapsing all the way.

I'm stumped.

I am not a Cobra guy but, since no one has responded I will offer my 2 cents.
I would be taking a good look at the cable. They are generally 3-5 year service items on mercs. The core is likely a spiral cable and the outer sleeve can become loose in the brass ends.

He found a little wear on a part that rotates the shift shoe and filed it down. He said its better but he can still get it to do it once in awhile. He has a new cable so it's worth replacing to see what happens.

shift interlock working?

dog clutch

i had almost the same problem. i had a 1990 king cobra with the cone clutch. what you stated as it seems its expanding enough not to engage is what was happening with mine.
to be honest it was a nightmare to get it right. its tough to find anyone to work on them or has any info on them. good luck with the problem and i think you are right about the problem.

king cobra,,,, misread that

Go to www.marineengine.com there is an absolute ton of info on OMC on there. I have used it for my runabout all the time.