I have an older 1987 evinrude with the dark colored surface mount shift box on the right of the cockpit area. You have to pull the shift lever out and then move forward for fast idle warm up. You pull it back to neutral and it pops in for shifting. Lately it does not pop back in as quickly and seems to move more sluggish. I blamed it on cooler weather, but wondered if there is any cleaning or lubrication I can do inside this shift box to help without messing up something. I have never taken it apart and am not too mechanically inclined. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

way2slow is the guy who will have your answer

Taking one apart, cleaning and lubing everything is a piece of cake. Getting everything back in their proper place can make you loose a lot of religion. They can be a real PITA. If you decide to got for it, you will have to unbolt it from the gunwale and take the top half off. There are groves, notches and holes things will have to fit back in so if you can get it laying flat so unknown parts don't start falling out might make things simpler. Then take bunches of pictures as you go.

I was going to paste a break down but it won't let me so go here to give you an idea of what it looks like inside http://epc.brp.com/Index.aspx?lang=E&s1=c2d7d159-9451-4ec3-accb-785dcf86ed40

Don't put email or check the block, just select go to parts catalog, then the pull down SELECT ONE, select Evinrude, year, model and remote control.