Essox, I would get it replaced. I had my Merc. 3000 box go bad on my Pro-Angler and it left me stranded on the water. Luckily I had enough juice in my trolling motor to make it back to the dock. I was told by my dealer that Merc had replaced some of the gears with too soft of a brass that year, (98). They had a bunch going bad. They replaced my whole box. Maybe Johnson did the same thing. Merc supposedly has fixed that problem. So far so good on the new boat. With my new boat and old boat, I have to push in the button and move the lever towards reverse just a hair for the button to go in all of the way. Then while still holding the button in I move the throttle lever forward and it is then in neutral.
Good luck,
Mike