Help :: 3 Outdrive "issues"

[DTM]

Went to launch the boat today (’87 Z21) and have three “issues” that came up:
1. Will not shift into gear. Gear shifter “stuck” in neutral. Did want to force anything. Boat has been sitting from last season (was used in saltwater now moved to freshwater). Looked up in repair manual and suggests to disconnect shifter cable to isolate to an outdrive or cable/shifter problem. Any other thoughts?
2. When trying to shift into gear (unsuccessfully) engine dies. Question: Does a switch just ground the coil? Or is there some other way that there is an interrupt? (There was massive amounts of user installed wiring and switches that I thought that I straighten out by the pervious owner to he had to as a “kill” switch.).
3. Trim up does not work. Changed relay and trim down and trailer up now works but no trim down….
Any help on these three areas will be appreciated…..
Thanks,
DTM

[onesubdrvr]

Is it a mercruiser Alpha drive? Was the ignition replaced? If the answer to both of these is yes, it's possible that you need the MSD Marine Shift Assist Module. Especially since you said wiring was a mess from previous owner, I'd take a look at that. If you need one, let me know, I've got one, will give 'ya a pretty good deal on it, never used.

Wayne