5.0 MPI died while idling, restarted, then dies when shifting into gear

My wife is at the lake with her girlfriends. She took the boat out today for a leisurely ride and she said it died while idling along in gear. She said it didn't initially want to start again, but she released the shift cable at the shifter so she could give it some throttle while starting and it eventually started. When she put it back into gear, it died again. She kept trying and finally got it going so she headed straight back to the dock. When she was trying to put it on the lift, it died again (probably while shifting but she didn't say) so she put it in the neighbor's slip and called me. I suspect the shift cable and/or shift interrupt is the culprit, but I'm not sure why it would die while idling in gear. It's a 2003 200BR and, to my knowledge, the shift cables have never been replaced. Any ideas?

Sounds like the IAC valve.

JimT said:

Sounds like the IAC valve.

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I've replaced the IAC valve before. It seems like last time it was bad, though, I got some beeps from the engine alarm. She didn't mention any beeps. It's hard trying to diagnose an issue from 80 miles away. LOL

My son is there now and called me while he was trying to start it. It started with the shift cable disengaged, but died immediately as soon as he brought the shifter back to the neutral position. I'll go with the IAC diagnosis and take one with me next weekend. Thanks for you help, Jim.

Any chance there could be something wrapped around the propeller?